


nobody's perfect

by MomoAJojo



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Adora doesn't understand her feelings till later, Adora is a top, Catra is a brat, Catra simps for Adora from the moment she see's her, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Lesbian Adora (She-Ra), Lesbian Catra (She-Ra), Lesbian Disaster Adora (She-Ra), Lesbian Disaster Catra (She-Ra), Mental Abusive, Modern AU, Mutual Pining, Physical abuse literally happens once, Slow Burn, This kinda got out of hand, and this is post college graduation, but still a disaster when it comes to catra, idk what else to tag, mild physical abuse, oh completely forgot to mention this is a, oh well, she's also a switch
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:26:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 36,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29057430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MomoAJojo/pseuds/MomoAJojo
Summary: Modern AUAll Adora wants is to be is perfect. Perfect for her foster mother Ms. Weaver and perfect for her girlfriend Lonnie. Everything she does is to make her girlfriend happy, because if she's not happy then that means Adora isn't perfect.Catra meets Adora and soon figures out she is in an abusive relationship from...personal experience...She promises herself to help Adora realize what's happening and get her out of the situation, but will her feelings get in the way of achieving that?
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Lonnie (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra), Kyle/Rogelio (She-Ra), Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra)
Comments: 167
Kudos: 415





	1. perfect girlfriend

**Author's Note:**

> I don't hate Lonnie. She's one of my favorite Horde characters, I just couldn't think of anyone else to choose for this. 
> 
> I've been stuck in a writer's block for my Korrasami fic and then I randomly thought of this, and people on Reddit said they would be down to read it. I got inspired and wrote this out. I don't know when I'll post the next chapter, I really like this idea and will write more in the future. Maybe it will get me out of my writer's block...Idk ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ we shall see!

Adora is speeding but she doesn’t care, she needs to get home if she wants to have dinner ready by the time Lonnie gets home. She thought she had enough eggs but when she opened the carton to see they had three less than she needed she panicked. She rushed to the grocery store and then got stuck behind a bunch of people who were using the quick check-out lines but definitely had more than the limit. 

To her relief, she makes it home without getting into an accident or getting pulled over. She checks the time and thinks if she works fast enough she can have dinner ready right when Lonnie gets home from work. 

She moves through the kitchen at lightning speed. Even when she has to wait for the food to cook, she is still moving, cleaning whatever she can, and setting the table so everything is perfect. It needs to be perfect, just like her. That’s what her foster mother has told her since she could remember, and Lonnie wants to same for her. They just want what’s best for her, which is to be perfect, and Adora will do whatever she can to be that for them. 

She finished cleaning the kitchen and setting the table so now all there is, is to wait for the oven timer to go off telling her dinner is ready. Lonnie should be home soon, but luckily the food only needs 15 more minutes. Adora wishes Lonnie will hit some traffic on the way home and she will get home after it’s ready. Her wish dies when she hears the front door open. Adora checks the timer and see’s there are about 10 more minutes. 

Adora hopes that Lonnie won’t be _too_ mad since it’s almost ready. 

Adora takes a deep breath, throws on the best, brightest smile she can muster and walks over to her girlfriend. “Hi sweetie, how was work?” Adora takes Lonnie’s bag from her and helps take off her jacket. The same routine they do every day Lonnie gets home from work that they have done since Adora moved in with her three months ago. They have been dating for about seven months, and when Lonnie asked her to move in she didn’t hesitate to say yes. Something felt familiar about being around Lonnie. 

She also didn’t mind the house Lonnie lives in. It’s a one-story midcentury modern style house that was built about fifty years ago but has been updated to match modern utilities. The front door leads into the living room to the right which has two leather couches creating an L-shape in front of the tv mounted to the wall, with a small circular coffee table in the middle of the room. 

Keep walking and you’ll find the dining room with a square table big enough to seat four people. It’s connected to the kitchen which has been completely modernized with white cabinets, and gray concrete countertops, and a small island separating it from the dining room. 

To the left of the front door are two closets, one to hang up coats and puts shoes in, the other hides the washer and dryer. Past the closets is a hallway that leads to a guest bedroom, the master bedroom, and a bathroom. The master bedroom is a decent size, big enough to fit a queen mattress and still have enough room to walk around comfortably, and it also has a small bathroom connected to it. It’s nothing too fancy, it has a double sink, a walk-in shower with a glass barrier covering half of it, and a toilet separating the shower and the sinks. 

But Adora’s favorite part of the entire house is the number of windows it has. During the day every room is lit up by the sun and when the moon is full it looks magical at night. Unfortunately, Lonnie hates it and has them covered most of the day so Adora only gets to enjoy it when Lonnie isn’t home or she sneaks out of bed in the middle of the night and opens the living room curtains. She can’t do it often though because if she woke Lonnie she would be in so much trouble. 

She doesn’t mind helping her after work because it makes her feel useful, helping out her girlfriend after a long day of work. Adora works too, at a veterinarian office with her best friends Bow and Glimmer. Adora met them freshman year of college, they both already knew they wanted to become vet’s but Adora was still figuring out what she wanted. When she learned more about it, she fell in love. She couldn’t handle doing surgery on people, but helping animals is the next best thing. Just another thing that helped her feel useful to the world. 

Glimmer’s mom also owns the vet office they all work at, so they were all guaranteed a job after college. Another perk to having her best friend’s mom be her boss is that she gets pretty good hours that get her out before her girlfriend comes home. Giving her enough time to cook dinner every day and help her out of her work attire. 

“Sucked. I’m starving,” Lonnie says already sounding annoyed. Adora cringes while putting Lonnie’s shoes on the rack and hanging up her jacket in the hall closet. She takes a deep breath before turning to her girlfriend but keeps her eyes on the ground. 

“Dinner will be ready in about 10 minutes,” Adora says quietly. Lonnie scoffs while walking to the kitchen and opening the fridge. Adora can hear the clinking of glass and hears a bottle being opened. Adora’s hope dies just like her wish did. Lonnie doesn’t drink unless she is upset with Adora. 

She holds back the tears and walks into the kitchen as Lonnie sits at the island and crosses her arms. “I’m sorry, Lonnie, I had to-” 

“Save it,” Lonnie says so coldly Adora shivers. “You know what time I get home, so you should know when to start cooking to make sure it’s ready for me. Now I also have to wait for it cool down.” 

The tears are getting harder to hold back. She hates when people are upset with her, especially when it’s someone she loves. She opens her mouth to apologize again but Lonnie puts a hand up stopping her. “Just do better next time.” Adora nods while giving her girlfriend a weak smile. She will do better, he has to do better, she has to _be_ better. For Lonnie. 

“I have to use the restroom,” Adora says and waits for Lonnie to acknowledge it to let her know it’s okay for her to go. Lonnie gives her a quick nod before taking a swig of her beer. Adora walks normally out of the kitchen but when she is no longer in Lonnie’s eyesight she picks up speed and rushes into the master bathroom. The farthest room from the kitchen, which also means Adora can cry here without having Lonnie hear her, as long as she isn’t too loud.

She closes the door behind her but doesn’t lock it. Even though Lonnie will probably not come back here, Adora doesn’t want to take the chance. Lonnie doesn’t like it when Adora locks the doors, but she doesn’t change the doorknobs because Lonnie still wants to be able to lock them for herself. 

She rests her back against the door and slides down it until her butt reaches the floor and she curls her knees into her chest to rest her forehead on as she quietly sobs. Normally when she cries she goes in the shower to help cover the sound. If she were to try that now Lonnie would only get more upset with her for taking a shower when they are about to eat, or before Lonnie gets to. She always takes one after they eat, and she doesn’t like when Adora takes one before her because then she doesn’t get enough hot water to last throughout her shower. 

Adora accommodated her schedule and now showers right when she gets home from work, giving the heating system enough time to replenish enough hot water for Lonnie, and then sometimes one at night before they go to sleep. The night shower is only if she needs to cry when she’s upset Lonnie, which happens a couple of times a week. At first, it was almost every day but she has started to learn how to not upset Lonnie and it has lessened over time. 

After a while, Adora starts to feel better and dinner should be ready by now so she stands up and splashes some cold water on her face. She dries it while making sure to pat and not rub so her face isn’t red. Then Lonnie would know she had been crying and would yell at her for not being able to keep her emotions in check. Another reason she started crying in the shower. Lonnie gets more upset with her when she cries. To Adora, this makes sense, because Lonnie loves her, and doesn’t want to see her upset, so she hides it to keep Lonnie happy. 

Adora fixes her hair and makes sure it isn’t too obvious what she’s been doing before leaving the bathroom. She mentally amps herself up on the way back to the kitchen to be the perfect girlfriend. When she reaches the kitchen Lonnie has already served herself and is sitting at the table. 

—

“It just seems weird to us,” Glimmer says while helping Adora sweep up the animal hair covering the floors of the office. She has been talking to Adora for the past 20 minutes about how she and Bow have a weird feeling about Lonnie. Which Adora doesn’t understand because they have met her before, and never said anything. 

“I told you, she is busy and doesn’t have time to hang out with _all_ of us,” Adora says while dumping the pile of hair into the trash. She isn’t exactly lying to Glimmer. There have been times that Lonnie genuinely did not have time between work and hanging out with her own friends, other times she was too tired and didn’t want to leave the house. Lonnie may have also mentioned that she doesn’t exactly like Glimmer and Bow but Adora isn’t going to tell them that. 

“But you have been dating for nearly seven months, you have lived with her for three, and we have probably talked to her less than ten times since you got together. We just want to get to know your girlfriend, let alone your _first_ girlfriend.” Adora understands why Glimmer wants to meet her so badly. She officially came out a year ago and she had never dated anyone before. “We want to make sure you’re happy.” 

Now Adora is getting mad. She has told Glimmer and Bow that she is really happy with Lonnie. That she feels something familiar with her. 

“How many times do I have to tell you. I am happy with Lonnie.” Adora puts the broom away a little more aggressively than she meant to. She takes a deep breath and tries to get her emotions under control. 

“I know you say that, but we’ve never actually seen you with her,” Glimmer says resting her hands on Adora’s forearms and looking up at her with concern. The affection doesn’t help stop her anger from returning. Adora backs away and crosses her arms keeping her gaze away from Glimmer. 

“So you’re saying you don’t trust me.” Glimmer makes a pained sound and moves closer to Adora but she backs away again.

“No one is saying that.” Glimmer and Adora both jump at hearing Bow’s voice. Neither of them had noticed that he was now in the room. He walks over to Adora and puts his hands on her shoulders. “We just want to get to know her since she is important to you, and _you_ are important to us.” 

Damn Bow and his perfect logic. Adora takes a deep breath and drops her head in defeat. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s not like I don’t ask her, she’s just…” Adora swallows the lump in her throat. 

“Busy. We understand. We’ll officially meet her one day.” Bow gives her a caring smile that makes her want to cry. She doesn’t but she wants to. Bow pulls her in for a hug and gestures for Glimmer to join them which she does. 

“I love you guys,” Adora says as she basks in the affection.

“We love you too,” Glimmer and Bow say in unison. 

—

When Adora gets home from work she takes the quickest shower of her life and starts making dinner before she’s even fully dried. It’s ready and cooled off enough to eat by the time Lonnie gets home. Then for the rest of the night, she’s the perfect girlfriend. She does whatever Lonnie says, and even does things for her without needing to be asked.

By the time they are laying in bed to go to sleep Lonnie hasn’t been upset with Adora at all. She feels like she’s flying since she’s been able to keep her girlfriend happy - she thinks, Lonnie doesn’t show emotions besides being angry or upset - all day, so now's the best time to ask. 

“Lonnie?” Adora whispers, she’s not sure if she is still awake since Lonnie’s back is towards her and if she isn’t she can’t risk waking her. Lonnie grunts in response telling Adora she’s awake. Adora sighs in relief. “I was wondering if you’d like to hang out with Bow, Glimmer, and I?” 

“I can't, I'm busy that day,” Lonnie responds so quickly Adora almost missed what she said. 

“I didn’t even tell you what day,” Adora mumbles.

“What’d I tell you about mumbling? I can’t understand what you say.” Adora feels the tears start in her eyes. She was doing so well not making Lonnie upset and she completely ruined everything. “What’d you say?” 

“I said...okay. Goodnight.” Adora holds the tears back and turns away from Lonnie. She can’t take a shower since she’s already in bed and that would make Lonnie upset for keeping her up with the water running. 

“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” Lonnie says and Adora turns back around in the blink of an eye. She doesn’t sound upset anymore, but her back was still towards Adora. “Scorpia invited us to game night this Saturday.” 

Adora’s heart stops beating for a second. She’d love to see Scorpia again but this Saturday she has plans to go on a hike with Bow. She’ll have to tell Lonnie no, which she doesn’t like doing. 

“Actually, I have plans with-“ 

“Come on, Adora.” Lonnie scoffs and Adora feels herself shrinking in size at the anger in Lonnie's voice. “Scorpia invited both of us, if I show up alone it’s going to look bad. Especially when I already told her we’d both be there.” 

Adora bites her tongue and thinks. Bow will be less upset with her then Lonnie, and that’s the best option she has right now. 

“Ok, I’ll change my plans.” 

“Good. Make sure you wear something nice. You know what? You should go shopping, you need new clothes.” Lonnie sounds happier, and Adora starts to relax. 

“Sure, I’ll go shopping after work-“

“Go Saturday morning so you can still make dinner tomorrow.” 

“Right. Okay, I’ll go Saturday.” 

“Great.” Lonnie moves around a bit, getting comfortable to go to sleep. Adora feels good and takes a chance. She moves closer to Lonnie and starts to wrap an arm around her waist- “Can you not, I’m comfortable right now and I don’t want you moving me out of it.” 

“Of course. Goodnight. I love you.” Lonnie grunts in response, Adora assumes she must be too tired to respond with words so she accepts that as an ‘I love you too’. Lonnie has said it before - a few times but it’s been a while since the last time.

Adora moves back and turns away from Lonnie. She focuses on her voice to make sure she wasn’t upset, and she wasn’t. She just didn’t want Adora to touch her and move her out of a comfortable position. Adora takes the extra pillow she hides under the bed for nights like this and holds it tight. She then happily goes to sleep knowing her girlfriend isn’t going to sleep upset with her.

—

“Lonnie! Adora! It’s so good to see you guys!” Scorpia scoops Lonnie and Adora up into a tight hug. Which she does with ease since she is built like a tank and could probably bench both of them without breaking a sweat. She puts them back on the ground and Lonnie instantly backs away but Adora lingers for a few seconds enjoying the affection. 

“It’s great to see you too, Scorpia,” Adora says while backing away and looking around the house. 

It’s a nice two-story colonial home. Right now they are standing in the foyer, to the left is the stairs, to the right, Adora can see into the living room through an archway, and ahead of them is a hallway most likely leading to the kitchen. 

“Thank you for inviting me, I’ve never seen your home before.” Adora looks back to Scorpia who is now beaming at her. 

“Let me give you the tour!” Scorpia wraps an arm around Adora, she looks back at Lonnie but she isn’t standing there anymore. She panics for a second before Scorpia leads her into the living room and she sees Lonnie taking the last open seat on the couch in between two couples.

It’s a nice living room, it has an archway on the adjacent wall leading to what seems like the dining room. The furniture consists of a long couch, and three chairs, two on the right side of the couch and one on the left near the archway. In front of the couch is a coffee table that is almost as long as the couch, it’s completely covered with food and various board games stacked on top of it. Adora also couldn’t help but notice the giant wall of arch windows behind the two chairs. They are glass bricks so it still gives privacy without needing to close the curtains. 

On the wall in front of the couch is a giant flat screen tv mounted to it and surrounded by built-in bookshelves that covered the wall completely. Adora could tell that half of the shelves were filled with CDs or records and the other half were movies. 

“This is Entrapta and Hordak.” Scorpia gestures to a purple-haired short woman and a tall pale man with dark hair sitting next to each other on the couch. 

“Hello,” Hordak says while nodding his head a little. 

“Greetings fellow human!” Entrapta says while waving her hand and smiling so big it looks like it hurts. Adora waves back and can’t help but smile as well. 

“That’s Kyle and Rogelio.” Scorpia points to a scrawny boy with blonde hair who is under the arm of a buff man with green hair. He’s not as big as Scorpia but still pretty muscular. 

“Hi! Nice to meet you,” Kyle says. Rogelio gives her a nod while grunting a little, “He says hi.” 

“Nice to meet you too.” Adora is instantly turned to the right to look at the pair of chairs with a woman sitting on one of them. 

“This is Perfuma, my girlfriend,” Scorpia says sounding a lot happier than she did a few seconds ago. The woman has long blonde hair and freckles covering almost every inch of her skin, which Adora can see most of due to the green sundress she is wearing. 

“It’s so nice to meet you, Adora,” Perfuma says in a soft voice while reaching a hand out to her. Adora takes it expecting a handshake but instead, Perfuma puts her other hand over Adora’s. She’s a bit taken aback by this but when she looks into Perfuma’s eyes and sees nothing but care, Adora relaxes. 

“It’s nice to meet you too, I didn’t know Scorpia had a girlfriend.” Adora looks back at Scorpia and can see a blush growing on her cheeks. 

“Lonnie never told you?” Scorpia asks looking back at Lonnie, Adora doesn’t dare look at her, worrying this may upset her and tensing up at the thought. 

“Never came up in conversation,” Lonnie says not sounding upset and Adora relaxes again. She also realizes that Perfuma is still holding her hand. Adora looks back at her and her eyes are still filled with care but also a hint of pity. 

“Now that you’re introduced to everyone, let me continue the tour!” Scorpia pulls Adora away, taking her out of Perfuma’s hold. She takes her through the archway and into a massive dining room that has a table that could probably fit twelve or more people. “We have a lot of parties so we need the space.” 

There’s a small bar on the adjacent wall to the archway that has a large variety of different drinks. Opposite the archway is a bay window with cushions for seating. It’s like she’s walking through her Pinterest board for her dream house. 

Scorpia continues moving her to the _huge_ kitchen. It has a massive island in the middle that has a small sink and a stovetop attached to it. The cabinets are a dark blue with gold handles and light gray countertops. “Woah,” Adora let out with a gasp. She has similar cabinet designs pinned to one of her boards. This _is_ her dream home. 

“I know it’s a bit much-“

“No, not at all. It’s _perfect_.” Adora moves out of Scorpia’s hold and admires the size of the kitchen, and now noticing the large window behind the main sink. 

“You into interior design?” Scorpia asks, returning to her side but not holding Adora again. 

“Nothing outside of my Pinterest board and some shows. Your house is exactly like my dream house board.” Adora admires the double oven. She would kill to have this. It would make cooking dinner for Lonnie so much easier. 

“Thank you, would you like to see the rest?” Adora turns to Scorpia who’s once again beaming at her and blushing a little. 

“Yes, please.” Somehow Scorpia beams even more while returning her arm around Adora’s shoulders and Adora is happy to have the physical contact again. She moves her out of the kitchen into the hallway and shows her the rest of the first floor. There’s not much else besides an office that was converted into a home gym, which Adora also loved. She may not be as buff as Scorpia but she still enjoys working out. The other room is a bathroom that isn’t anything crazy, just a normal half bath with a toilet and a sink across from it. 

Scorpia starts to take her upstairs- “Come on guys! It’s game time!” Kyle yells from the living room and holding up a board game. 

“We’ll finish the tour later I guess,” Scorpia says while moving Adora back into the living room. Scorpia takes her hand off Adora and she already misses the touch. She takes the seat next to Perfuma, leaving Adora to the single chair on the left side of the room. She sits down and glances over at Lonnie who is having a conversation with Rogelio but it seems more one-sided as Rogelio just keeps grunting at her in response. 

They play a few games, which Adora purposely loses to give Lonnie a chance to win, but makes sure to go with a fight. If she lost too quickly it would embarrass Lonnie and that’s the last thing she wants to do tonight. 

“Anyone want a drink?” Perfuma asks while standing and slowly walks to the kitchen. “We have soda, juice, and almost every alcohol on earth.” 

Everyone else tells Perfuma what they want, and then it’s Adora’s turn. “I’d like-” 

“She’ll just have some water.” Lonnie answers for her. Adora looks over at her and gives her a sweet smile, but Lonnie gives her nothing back. Adora looks back at Perfuma whose mouth is now a thin line, takes a deep breath, and brings a smile to her face. She looks back at Adora and she nods at Perfuma in agreement for the water.

Perfuma comes back a few moments later with everyone’s drinks and they continue playing. At some point, while Adora is taking a sip of her drink Rogelio gets up and moves past her but accidentally bumps into her, causing her to spill down her new shirt. 

Rogelio grunts apologetically, Adora tells him it’s fine and he continues to leave the room. Perfuma hands her a napkin and Adora questions when she got next to her, but takes the napkin happily. Adora looks over at Lonnie, and even though her face is neutral, Adora can see in her eyes that she is _mad_. 

Lonnie gets up from her seat on the couch and walks over to Adora crouching to be at eye level and puts a hand on her bicep. With it being a short sleeve, it’s a direct touch to her skin, but it’s cold and it makes her shiver a little, “You should go clean yourself up,” She says sweetly but Adora knows she’s just hiding her true emotions. Lonnie leans closer to her ear and her grip on Adora’s arm tightens, “Go fix yourself, and don’t embarrass me like that again.” 

Tears are starting in Adora’s eyes but she wills them to stay back while she is still around other people. Adora gives her a weak nod while standing and trying her best to seem normal while walking through the living room into the hallway and then rushes to the bathroom. She tries to open it but it’s locked. Rogelio grunts from the inside, Adora would apologize but she’s afraid if she tries to speak it will be her sobs. 

“There’s another bathroom upstairs, first door on the left,” Perfuma says suddenly once again at Adora’s side. All she can do is nod a thank you, she would question how Perfuma keeps saving her ass so easily, but she’s too focused on hiding. She sprints up the stairs and opens the first door on the left. She closes the door behind her and leans against it, keeping her eyes closed as she lets the tears fall. 

She slumps against the door and lets the panic attack wash over her. Her breathing quickens and her world is spinning. She puts her hands in her hair, not caring that it’s just something else she’ll have to fix before going back downstairs. She needs it to ground herself, to let her know that she _is_ on solid ground even though it may not feel like it at the moment. 

“Uh...you okay?” Adora freezes. Her panic attack is still happening but her entire body is rock solid. She moves her hands away from her face and opens her eyes. She has to blink a few times to get the tears out of her eyes so she can actually see where she ended up. The only thing she can see is a woman staring at her from a desk chair. 

“I-I...Crap, I was looking for the bathroom, I’m sorry.” She could have sworn Perfuma said first door on the left, she must have misheard since she is a fucking wreck right now. Adora stands up and moves to open the door but is stopped by a warm soft hand grabbing her wrist and stopping her. She looks down to see the woman standing next to her with worry in her eyes. Eyes, that make Adora shiver, one a piercing blue, and the other a soft gold. “W-What are you doing?” 

“Stopping you.” The woman’s voice makes Adora feel warm but a warmth she’s never felt before. It’s soft, yet raspy, and she wants to hear it again. 

“Why?” Adora just wants to leave. She has already embarrassed Lonnie, and she doesn’t want to make things worse by crying in front of a stranger. Even though this stranger is extremely beautiful. For the first time since seeing the woman, she breaks eye-contact. Adora takes in every detail of her, from the freckles on her cheeks, to short dark brown hair pulled back by a thin headband. She’s then pulled back to the woman’s eyes, even though it was just a few seconds she wasn’t looking at them, she missed them. 

“Because you’re freaking out.” The care in the woman’s eyes and voice makes Adora’s knees go weak causing her to slump lower down the door. The woman’s eyes grow wide as she uses her other hand to grab at Adora’s waist and hold her up. Adora gasps at the contact because some of her fingers slide under her shirt and she hasn’t been touched like this in _so_ long. A blush pinks up her cheeks but she hopes it’s not noticeable from her crying.

She wants nothing more than to stay with this woman with the caring eyes and the soft hands but she needs to fix herself to get back to Lonnie.

“I’m fine, I’m sorry for bothering you.” Adora tries to open the door again but the woman’s grip on her tightens on her wrist _and_ her waist. More of her fingers end up under Adora’s shirt causing the woman to now be completely gripping her side and Adora has to stifle a whine at how good her hands feel.

“You’re not bothering me. What’s bothering me is that a beautiful girl like you is crying and I would like to know why so I can help.” Adora’s eyes widen and she feels her blush deepen and hopes the crying is still covering it. 

The woman just called her beautiful, something she hasn’t been called by someone else besides Bow and Glimmer in a very long time. The woman starts to rub a thumb against Adora’s stomach and she can’t stop the whine from escaping her lips. She stops moving the thumb and Adora notices the corner of her lips twitch for a second. “Tell me what’s wrong.” 

Adora swallows the melon-sized lump in her throat and also finds out that her mouth is now the Sahara Desert. She doesn’t like telling people about her problems, she normally just handles them on her own but something about this girl makes Adora want to spill everything to her. 

“I spilled on myself and made my girlfriend upset.” The woman’s eyes widen a bit and her mouth opens for a second before closing. She moves her hand from Adora’s side and loosens her grip on her wrist. Her eyes turn back to concern but not as much as before and she laughs a little. Adora thinks it may be the most beautiful thing she’s ever heard. 

“So? That’s nothing to get upset about,” the woman says and Adora wants to argue that she’s wrong. That there are many reasons. She should have had better control over her hand, and not be an imbecile who spills on herself. She wasn’t perfect and that’s a problem she has to be- “Nobody’s perfect.” 

“What?” 

“Nobody’s perfect, people make mistakes.” The words echo in her head and she feels as if she’s listening to someone speak another language. If she’s not perfect, then what is she? 


	2. a new friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra gets to know the blonde who barged into her room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okokok i know I said it might be a while but I was procrastinating homework and couldn't stop thinking about this. :)
> 
> Enjoy Catra's POV

Catra has never liked game night, she’s attended a few to keep Scorpia off her back but tonight she used her get out of jail free card - which she has used almost every time, Scorpia didn’t give her a limit on them - so she could focus on her art. She has a few commissions to do and she wants to try and get them done before their deadlines so she doesn’t have to rush anything.

Art isn’t her main career but she wishes it was. Currently, she waitresses at a bar that Scorpia is a bartender at. That’s how they met after Catra graduated high school and it was the best job she could get at the time that would help her afford her shitty studio apartment. When she first met Scorpia she was only bartending during the day since she was also new and Catra refused to work at night - unless she really needs money she'll work at night for better tips - so they crossed paths a lot.

Scorpia took a liking to Catra that she didn’t quite understand but never _really_ fought her on it. At first, she would shoot Scorpia with a jab with her words or physically shove her away but she always came back. After a while Catra just let it happen and she actually started to like Scorpia - not that she would ever admit it - then one day when Catra was complaining about her landlord Scorpia offered to live with her, _rent-free_. One because Scorpia’s extremely loaded parents bought her the house and two because she’s just _like_ that. Catra already knowing what the house looked like, accepted the offer instantly.

She took the room at the top of the stairs because it allowed her to come home late without disturbing Scorpia - not that she would ever admit that either - but also because it has a beautiful arch window that matched the one in the living room, but with regular glass. She positioned her king-sized bed under it because she loves when the moonlight comes in at night. 

Soon after moving in, she made it her own by painting the walls a dark red but then covered almost every inch with different posters or pieces of art. None were her own, she kept those in her art bags or on her computer. It mattered what medium she was using. 

On the wall opposite the bed was the door exiting into the hallway and to the right of it she set up her long desk. She needs it to be big so she could have space to paint if needed and for her monitor and drawing tablet. On the wall to the left of the door is the door to her walk-in closet and her bathroom. It’s nice, with a walk-in shower, jacuzzi tub, double sinks, and a toilet. Catra has never used the tub since she moved in almost five years ago besides to clean her art supplies. She’s never really been a fan of baths, or the water in general. Showers are the only thing she can tolerate. 

Tonight she was using her monitor and tablet to work on a commission she got off Instagram. She was almost done with the outline when her door suddenly opened and a woman slams it shut while crying. Hands in her hair and breathing crazy fast. The woman hadn’t noticed Catra yet so she spoke first to make her presence known. 

She lost her breath when two oceans of blue met her eyes. When the woman tried to leave something came over Catra and she grabbed her wrist stopping her. Catra wasn’t sure why she did it but she knew she didn’t want her to leave. 

Even when the woman told her she had a girlfriend and Catra removed her hand from her side she still didn’t want her to leave. She couldn’t help flirting with her, she’s the hottest piece of ass Catra has ever seen. But learning she had a girlfriend made her back off from the flirtatious touching. Even though she loved seeing the girl become flustered and would give anything to hear her whine like that again. 

Catra shakes her head and focuses. This girl is freaking out, she may be utterly gorgeous but she needs help. She hasn’t spoken for a while, not since Catra reiterated, “Nobody’s perfect.” She wants to ask again if the woman is okay but also wants to give her time to calm down. This seems to be what she needs because her breathing is slowing. The woman takes a deep breath and straightens herself up. Catra tries to ignore the fact that she is a solid 6 inches taller than her and the feeling growing in between her thighs at the memory of her toned stomach under her hand.

“What are you doing in here?” The woman asks. Catra holds back the shiver the voice gives her. It was much stronger this time now that her breathing is under control. Catra mentally slaps herself for being so fucking gay that she can’t even handle helping someone for five minutes. Catra focuses on the words, not the _voice_ this time, and is confused by her question because it’s _her_ room. But obviously, the girl doesn’t want to talk anymore about why she’s freaking out so Catra will follow her lead. 

“You mean what am I doing in _my_ room?” Catra can’t help but laugh and then smirk when she sees a new blush on the blonde’s chiseled face. 

“I-I meant w-why aren’t you at game night?” Fuck, Catra wants to hear her stutter like that again. She mentally slaps herself again for being so out of control. It has been a while since she got laid so her hormones are going crazy at having this _Goddess_ standing before her now. 

“Not really my thing,” Catra says hesitating to explain more. She doesn’t even share her art with Scorpia let alone complete strangers - except on her art page and clients - but this girl obviously needs a change in topic. “And I needed to work on my art.” 

The blue eyes instantly light up as a smile grows on her face. Catra looks over every inch of it to burn it into her memory so she can draw it later. “You’re an artist?” She asks, sounding very excited and now bouncing on her feet a little. Catra can’t help but chuckle a little at how much of a dork she is - she also can't help love seeing her like this either. 

“Yeah...Do you want to see what I’m working on?” The girl practically beams at her while nodding her head. She starts to move towards the desk but Catra can’t help herself from what happens next. She grabs the girl’s biceps and pins her against the door while lifting her knee to rest mere centimeters from the girl's heat. Her eyes widen as her face turns red but Catra can’t help but notice her pupils are now dilated a little and hear a strangled sound come from the girl's throat. 

“It’ll cost you,” Catra says in the most seductive voice she can muster. She squeezes the girl’s arms and feels herself get significantly wetter when she feels them flex under her fingers. 

“W-wha-what d-do y-you w-want?” That’s it. That’s all Catra wanted. She may never see this girl again but she just had to hear her stutter at least one more time. 

“What I want is…” She tightens her grip and raises her knee to barely close the gap. The woman whines a little while letting out a shuddering breath. Catra uses all of her strength from kissing her and drops her leg and arms before backing away a little. “your name.”

“What?” Catra revels in the fact that the girl now looks slightly disappointed. For someone in a relationship, she doesn’t seem very uncomfortable with how Catra is touching her. Maybe they aren’t super serious but Catra can’t get her hopes up. Even if they aren’t serious she isn’t the type of person to break up a couple - at least she _tries_ not to be. 

“If you want to see my art, you have to tell me your name,” Catra says while crossing her arms and popping her hip out a little. Adora clears her throat, and the blush lessens on her face but it’s still slightly pink. Catra knows she shouldn’t have done that, but the girl didn’t push her away and she just had to get _something_ out of her system.

Catra has never really been fond of Scorpia’s friends, she tolerates Perfuma because she’s nice but after a while, she can’t deal with all the smiles. The only other person she may consider saying she likes is Rogelio, mainly because he doesn’t speak which allows her to not speak either. She may or may not - she totally does - consider Entrapta her own friend, but everyone else she doesn’t really give a shit about. 

“Adora.” 

“Hey, Adora.” Her blush is back and Catra feels her ego boost about twice its size from how she is affecting Adora but curses herself for doing too much. She doesn’t want to make her uncomfortable even though she doesn’t seem to be, “I’m Catra.” 

She turns to sit back at her desk and position her monitor so Adora could see it from her standing position. She’s glad this piece is safe for work and that she’s almost done the outline. If Adora stormed in an hour ago she probably wouldn’t be able to see what she was trying to draw. Someone messaged her on Instagram asking if she could draw them riding one of the dragons from Game Of Thrones. It’s a simple piece in words but in reality, it’s been a pain in the ass for her to get it right. She isn’t exactly a perfectionist, but if something doesn’t look right to her, she keeps at it until it does. 

Adora moves behind her and Catra zooms out to let Adora see the whole piece. The blonde gasps and leans over her shoulder placing one hand on the desk while moving closer to the screen. Catra can’t help but stare as the girl looks at her art in awe. 

“This is amazing,” Adora says breathlessly. She looks over at Catra and catches her staring. The blue eyes keep her in place and for a second Catra would give anything to be able to lean forward and kiss her. She curses at the universe for bringing this woman into her life but not _single_. Adora blushes again before clearing her throat and standing up straight. “You’re an incredible artist.” 

“Please, this is just the outline.” Catra has never been good at taking compliments; it’s even more challenging when someone who looks like Adora gives her one. She looks back at the tablet and focuses on the dragon. Thankfully now Adora is fully out of her sight standing behind her and she can _hopefully_ get a hold of herself. 

“Well, I think it’s excellent, even for an outline.” Catra blushes at the sincerity of her voice, “May I see more?” 

“Sure.” Her voice cracks a little bit and clears her throat. “Go ahead and sit down.”

Adora moves around behind her and when Catra turns around her heart skips a beat when she realizes what she just did. Besides her desk chair, there isn’t any other place to sit down except her bed. She turns back to the monitor and repositions it to be near the edge of the desk and rolls the chair closer to the bed. Not _too_ close but close enough she doesn’t need to raise her voice or is blocking the monitor. 

Catra spends the next 30 minutes or so showing Adora her different pieces, some completed and others still a work in progress. Adora complimented each piece, which Catra is used to. People are always polite and just say it looks good, but Adora’s voice is completely sincere with each one.

Catra is starting to feel a little embarrassed and shy from all the compliments. She isn’t used to a stranger being so nice to her - well expect Scorpia, but it’s _Scorpia_ , that’s just who she is. Catra clears her throat and gets up to move the monitor back to its original position. “Enough talking about me, what about you?” She turns off the tablet and the monitor and returns to her seat, positioning herself to be looking at Adora. 

“You want to talk about me?” Adora seems genuinely confused at someone being interested in her. Catra can’t help but laugh a little. 

“Well yeah, you barge into my room, and the only thing I know about you is that your name is Adora.” Catra didn’t want to mention the girlfriend part because one, it might upset Adora bringing it up and two, she couldn’t handle saying it out loud. Adora looks down at her lap and fiddles with her thumbs a little now seeming embarrassed. 

“I’m sorry I came in here, I was looking for the bathroom and thought this was it but I messed up...again. I didn’t mean to be a burden to you.” Her voice was so quiet it kind of broke Catra’s heart a little. She moves the chair closer and grabs Adora’s hands. She gasps and looks up at Catra, her cheeks pinking up a little. 

“You don’t need to be sorry. You were upset and it felt wrong letting you leave like that.” Adora looks like she is about to cry again. Catra squeezes her hands before letting them go and she hears a small whine of disappointment come from Adora. Catra would love to keep touching her to help comfort her but she might - okay _will_ \- lose control. “Now, tell me something about yourself.” 

“Uhh, what do you want to know?” Adora asks now seeming to have relaxed a little with the topic change, but she still seems tense. 

“Anything you want to tell me.” Catra gives her the sweetest smile she can make. Adora blushes a little while rubbing the back of her neck. For someone so muscular she is a very timid person, kind of reminds her of Scorpia but she isn’t _out there_ like Scorpia. Which Catra's happy about, she doesn’t think she could handle more friends like Scorpia. 

“I grew up in the foster system?” Adora says, but it sounds more like a question. Catra is a little surprised she would share something so personal but she’s also happy she has something to relate to her with. 

“Are you telling me or asking me?” Catra asks in a teasing but light tone. Adora laughs nervously and Catra wants to hear it again. It is now her goal for the night to make the pretty girl laugh again. 

“I’m telling you.” Adora looks back at Catra, still seeming nervous but just slightly more relaxed. 

“So was I.” Adora looks at her in disbelief, “I’m serious, I was in the system till I was about 13, and then I got adopted.” 

“You got adopted?” Adora looks at her excited but also a little sad.

“Yeah, by my Mom, Razz.” 

Razz came into the orphanage one day and even though Catra was wreaking havoc through the place she said she didn’t want anyone else. Catra asked her - after Razz helped her figure her shit out and realized how much of a handful she was to her all those years - why she picked Catra out of all the other kids, and she said, “Dearie, even though you were wild, I saw the good in you, and I wanted to help you find it.” Catra proceeded to sob into her Mom’s shoulder - not that she would admit it now.

“Were you not adopted?” Catra asks and cringes to herself for asking, it’s a very personal question. It’s probably not a good memory to make Adora think about if she wasn’t. The sadness fills Adora’s eyes but a fond smile grows on her face. 

“Not really. She never officially adopted me, but I did live with the same foster mother for my whole life.”

“Why did she never adopt you?” Adora takes a deep breath and lays back on the bed with her hands behind her head. Her blue eyes now practically glowing from the moonlight and her biceps involuntarily flexing from the new position. Normally Catra would want nothing more than to jump her right now, but instead, she wants to lay down next to her and hold her. Yeah, she may be insanely attracted to this woman, but now that she’s getting to know her, she will gladly keep her in her life as a friend and nothing more. There’s something different about her that intrigues Catra, and she wants to learn more about her. 

“I’m not sure, I never asked,” Adora says before looking over at Catra. Even though this an extremely personal conversation, Adora seems to have relaxed significantly. “What’s your mom like?” 

Catra sighs at the memories of Razz taking her home, and how Catra tormented her. She was used to being picked by people and then thrown back into the orphanage a few days later when they realized they didn’t want her anymore. She was trying to get Razz to throw her back as soon as possible before she got used to living outside the orphanage. But Razz never kicked her out, she just cleaned up her messes, and gave her food, and made sure to tuck her in bed every night. After a while, Catra stopped retaliating and accepted Razz’s support. Soon after she stopped fighting her, Razz told Catra she was officially adopting her. She didn’t truly believe it until the papers were signed. 

“ _Very_ understanding,” Catra says with a small laugh. She really was a piece of work for her mom in the beginning. “She helped me through _a lot_ of issues I didn’t even know I had, some I still have, but she was always there for me.” 

Without realizing it, Catra gets up from the bed and sits next to Adora. She pulls out the necklace Razz gave her when she graduated high school from being hidden under her shirt. She opens it to see a picture of them when Razz took her out for ice cream after officially adopting her, and the other is a drawing Catra made of the two of them. 

“She helped me with my art. The orphanage I lived at didn’t have a lot of supplies, but when Razz figured out I liked it, she bought me an easel and every paint color, brushes, and pencils in the store.” Catra closes her eyes while holding the necklace in her fist. 

“That’s amazing.” Adora’s voice sounds a lot closer than Catra remembers. She opens her eyes and looks around to realize that she's lying next to Adora, now facing her. She feels herself blush at how close they are, and from the soft look on Adora’s face. After a few moments of staring into each other’s eyes, Adora seems to realize it too because her cheeks turn red as her eyes go wide. She clears her throat and looks up at the ceiling and then tilts her head back to look at the window. 

“I love the window,” She says, and Catra lets out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. After getting so many compliments from her, and then thinking about how much Razz’s means to her, she feels vulnerable. She’s more than happy to talk about the design of the house. 

“Yeah, it’s why I chose this room.” Catra turns onto her stomach to look out the window and to help put some inches in between them. “I love natural light, and the moonlight is even better.” 

“I love that too!” Adora flips on her stomach, shortening the space between them but Catra doesn’t care. She’s too focused on the smile that is now plastered on Adora’s face. “We have a bunch of windows at our house, and it’s gorgeous during the day, but…” 

Adora’s smile falters a little, and Catra would give anything to bring it back, “My girlfriend doesn’t really like it so we have the windows covered most of the time.” Her smile lessens even more before she takes a deep breath and it’s back, but something’s wrong about it this time. It’s fake. 

“Well, that sucks,” Catra says. Adora huffs a little and her smile turns a little more genuine. Catra looks back out the window. “I fell in love with natural light because I like painting under it the most. Now I just feel calm when it fills the room.” 

They lay like that for a while, a few inches apart, staring out into the real world, saying nothing until- “Hey, Catra?” She swears she is having heart palpations. That’s the first time Adora has said her name all night and it sounds so _good_ coming out of her mouth. She hums in response not giving herself the chance to embarrass herself by opening her mouth. “Can you draw me?” 

Catra almost chokes on air. Her mind instantly pictures Adora laying down naked modeling for a painting. She clears her throat to get the image out of her head and turns to look at Adora. Once again her cheeks are a little pink and she looks so innocent. 

“Um, sure.” Catra voice cracks so she clears her throat and gets up from the bed to get her tablet. She sits back in her desk chair while Adora turns around and sits up straight. “Do you want just a regular portrait?”

“Whatever you want to do,” Adora says, and Catra has to turn around to one, hide her blush, and two take many gulps of water to help calm herself down. What she _would_ like to do is strip Adora bare and have her under the moonlight, but Catra repeats in her head that she has a girlfriend. What seems to be kind of a shitty girlfriend, but none the less, she has a girlfriend. Catra may have done some messed up things in her life but she won’t sleep with someone - or actively try to - when they are in a relationship. 

Catra turns around and positions herself in front of Adora. She takes a deep breath and focuses on Adora for _art_ purposes. She’s planning on doing just a quick sketch of her, and if she ever gets the chance, she can do something more. Catra puts her pen to the tablet screen getting ready to start- “Adora!” Catra jumps and looks over at Adora who now looks completely terrified. Her entire body is tense again and Catra swears she can see tears starting in the corner of her eyes. 

“Crap. I’m sorry I have to go,” Adora says getting up and rushes to the door. She puts her hand on the handle but doesn’t open it. Catra just stares at her as Adora turns around to meet her eyes. Adora seems to relax a little when they do, and a small smile grows on her face. “It was really nice meeting you, Catra. Thank you.” 

Catra is dumbstruck by her words. It’s a simple phrase people say when people first meet but once again it sounds _sincere_ coming from Adora. Catra opens her mouth to say it back- “ _Adora!”_ The same voice yells again, sounding much angrier. The tension is back in Adora’s body, the smile is gone and a few seconds later so is Adora. Catra’s door is still open and she can hear Adora apologizing over and over again to someone. She walks to the doorway and sees Adora at the bottom of the stairs with a woman Catra has seen before but never cared to remember anything about her. She does know they are about the same height but it doesn't look like it because Adora seems to have shrunk in size since she was upstairs as she looks at her girlfriend in fear. 

“We’re leaving,” she says through a clenched jaw, and Adora somehow slumps her shoulders even more before nodding her head and hanging it in between her shoulders while following her out the door. 

Catra rushes down the stairs and gets on the tips of her toes to look out the window in the front door, and watches the girl get into the driver seat while Adora’s shoulders rise and fall as if she just took a deep breath and then gets into the car. Adora slumps so low in the seat that all Catra can see of her is the stupid hair pouf. Catra also notices how the girlfriend now looks significantly madder but obviously trying to hold back. 

They drive off, and Catra doesn’t know why but she opens the door to walk into the middle of the street and looks out at the car. She can see through the back window the girlfriend is flailing her hand around angrily. Catra balls her hands into fists and tries to take calming breaths, just like Razz and her therapist taught her, to keep her anger in check. It doesn’t work until the car turns and is no longer in sight. 

Catra pivots on her heels and storms back to the house. Once she’s inside she grabs Scopira, ignoring everyone else who is still there, and pulls her through the hallway and into the home-gym. 

“What’s wrong, wildcat?” Scorpia says looking a little flustered from being pulled and very worried. 

“Who was that girl with Adora?” Catra cuts right to the chase. She needs to know who that was and how they could make Adora so scared like that. 

“You mean Lonnie? That’s her girlfriend-well first she was my friend, but then she met Adora and now they are dating-” Catra dials out the ramble Scorpia is about to go on and curses herself for not getting to know Scorpia’s friends sooner.

“How long have they been together?” 

“Uh, about seven months, and I think they moved in together about three months ago.” Catra starts pacing, Scorpia is starting to look scared now. “Wildcat what's goi-” 

“What’s Adora like?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I mean, how does she act, when she’s with Lonnie and when she isn’t.” Catra has a theory she’s trying to figure out and she needs to know more about their relationship before she can let it take over her mind. 

“I’ve never seen her without Lonnie.” Catra stops pacing, “She’s also been really quiet, kind of keeps to herself. I don’t know much about her besides she is twenty-three, she’s a vet, and Lonnie is her first serious relationship.” 

“Did she tell you that or Lonnie?” 

“Lonnie did, like I said Adora kind of keeps to herself.” Catra thinks back to their conversation, how the first thing Adora told her was that she was in the foster system. Not her age, her occupation, or her favorite color. The first thing that came to mind to Adora was probably the most personal thing she could have told her. “The most I’ve heard her speak was today when I was giving her a tour of the first floor. When we got back into the living room with everyone else she got quiet again.” 

Catra’s heart is pounding in her ears as her theory starts to make more and more sense. Adora was crying over upsetting her girlfriend from spilling her drink. She completely changed into a different person when Lonnie called for her. 

“She even liked my hugs! At least that’s what Perfuma said. I told her I was worried I touched Adora too much but Perfuma said she noticed Adora looked really happy while I was doing it, even a little disappointed when I let go after the tour ended.” Catra’s eyes go wide as more things start to make sense. How Adora whined when she stopped touching her, it wasn’t because she was interested in Catra, it’s because she’s _touched starved._

Before Scorpia can ask anything again Catra runs out the door and up to her room. She slams her head against her desk for not seeing it sooner. Adora is in an _abusive relationship_. Just like when that woman took Catra from the orphanage and she- Catra stops the memory from resurfacing. She can’t think about that right now, not when Adora is in trouble. 

Catra promises herself to help Adora with this, but she needs to be careful, she can’t just barge into her life about this. Adora probably doesn’t even understand that she’s in one. She needs to play it safe, but how? 

She pulls out of her phone to make a call. After three rings it’s answered, “Catra, dearie! How are you?” Razz asks her voice high and cheery. Catra instantly feels herself starting to calm down at her mom’s voice. 

“Hey, Mom. I need some help.” Catra takes a deep breath, “And before you ask, no not that kind of help, I met someone today and I think she’s in trouble.” 

“Tell me everything,” Razz says her voice turning serious. Catra sighs and starts explaining.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you complain, I am tired of reading Catra not having a good parental figure in her life, she deserves one so I gave her one. She's still got her problems dw. 
> 
> Catra is a fucking simp from day one and I love it. She is definitely an artist in my head and definitely skated when she was a teenager. 
> 
> Let me know if there are any major mistakes!
> 
> Find me here:  
> Twitter @supersimptrio  
> Reddit u/momoajojo  
> Tumblr @momoajojo


	3. the rules

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora gets Catra's number

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm falling more and more in love with this fic each time I write one of these chapters :) 
> 
> Like I said the chapters switch between their POV's so now we are on Adora!
> 
> Please let me know if there are any major mistakes! Thanks, enjoy!

Once they were out of view of Scopira’s house Lonnie started to scold Adora, first for spilling on herself and then ditching her the rest of the night. That she completely embarrassed Lonnie in front of her friends, that she has never been more embarrassed in her entire life and it’s all Adora’s fault. 

Adora tries to apologize but every time she opens her mouth Lonnie yells at her to be quiet. That she can’t handle hearing Adora’s voice right now, it will only make her madder. Adora nods her head and tries to hold back the tears, but some still escape her eyes. Lonnie scolds her for being such a baby that she can’t even handle being yelled at for a few minutes. Adora bites the inside of her cheek to keep the tears back, even when she tastes blood she doesn’t let go. She can’t handle making Lonnie even more upset tonight. 

When they get home Lonnie heads to their bedroom and slams the door before locking it. Adora knows what that means. She’ll be sleeping in the guest room tonight. This has happened a few times since they moved in together. Adora understands that Lonnie just needs her space right now, and she will give it to her. She heads to the guest room. It’s simple with barely any decorations except for the tv mounted across from the double bed. 

Adora curls up into a ball under the sheets and tries to go to sleep but knowing Lonnie is mad at her makes it difficult. She can’t help but think back to what she did wrong, and how this all started because she spilled on herself. Then she left Lonnie alone while she was with Catra. 

_Catra._

Adora feels herself relax a little from just thinking about her. After she told her “Nobody’s perfect” her brain kind of malfunctioned trying to figure out what she meant. She still doesn’t quite understand it but she had to stop thinking about it then and she needs to stop now. She’s so grateful that Catra went along with her to change subjects and showed Adora her art. 

It helped her calm down and she was genuinely interested in it and amazed by every piece. Adora also couldn’t help herself from staring at Catra a couple - ok multiple - times while she was explaining her art. She was so passionate about her work, and Adora slipped up a few times saying “Beautiful” while she was staring but Catra didn’t seem to notice she was no longer talking about the art when she did. 

Catra is beautiful and for some reason, Adora had the urge to trace her fingers over every one of her freckles when they were laying on the bed. They looked like stars under the moonlight and her eyes were glowing. Adora thought about what it would be like to kiss her but she caught herself. She had a minor panic attack when she stopped herself, remembering she was with Lonnie and cursing herself for forgetting and not being perfect. Thinking about kissing someone else, especially someone she just met, is far from perfect. But there was something about Catra that gave her a nice feeling, she isn’t sure what is, but she knows she’s never felt it before. 

She started feeling it when Catra told her she was in the foster system too. Adora doesn’t know why she decided _that_ would be the first thing she told her but it’s the first thing that came to her. She doesn’t normally tell people that when she first meets them, it even took her a while to tell Glimmer and Bow. There was just something about Catra that made her feel okay to say it, and she’s glad she did since Catra was also in the system. 

Catra looked so happy talking about Razz, that Adora wondered if she looked the same when she talked about Ms. Weaver. She was the only mother figure in her life for 18 years until she met Angella freshman year of college. She didn’t take a liking to Adora at first, but Glimmer told her that’s just because she’s a protective mother. After a while Angella seemed to warm up to Adora which made her extremely happy, she didn’t like people not liking her. You aren’t perfect if someone doesn’t like you. 

Adora thought about Catra again, and for some reason, she couldn’t stop smiling no matter how hard she tried not to. She let it happen even though her jaw started to hurt a little and soon she drifted off to have some of the best sleep she’s had in months. 

—

Days have gone by and Adora can’t get Catra out of her mind. Even though Lonnie let her sleep in their room Monday night, she still couldn’t stop. She wanted nothing more than to see and talk to Catra again. At first, she felt guilty for thinking of another woman when she’s with Lonnie but she told herself it’s just as a friend and nothing more. 

Adora took a risk while Lonnie was showering and went through her phone. She always charged her phone on the nightstand after work. Adora only knew her password because she has seen Lonnie put it in before when she didn’t know Adora was looking. She rationalized it as being perfect by knowing her password so if there is ever an emergency and her own phone is dead she can access Lonnie's phone. Besides, Lonnie knows Adora’s password. Lonnie had told Adora to tell her what it was, and she gladly gave it to her.

She puts in the code and her heart is pounding in her ears. Lonnie just got in the shower but Adora is still anxious that she’ll come out any second. She goes into the contacts and looks for Catra’s but there’s nothing. She searches for Scorpia and is successful. She takes out her phone to copy down the number. Adora closes out of the app and puts the phone back exactly how it was before. 

She sprints out of the room and hides away in the guest room. She opens her messages and starts a text to Scorpia. 

**[Adora]** Hi Scorpia! It’s Adora, Lonnie's girlfriend we’ve met a few times-

Adora deletes it. 

**[Adora]** Hi Scorpia! It’s Adora, you know your roommate Catra? Well, I met her in her bedroom-

Delete.

 **[Adora]** Hi Scorpia! It’s Adora. I was wondering if you could give me Catra’s number. I met her at game night but forgot to ask for it. 

Adora stares at her phone, her heart about to burst out of her chest. She knows if she keeps thinking she’ll never send the text so she takes a deep breath and clicks send. Her message is read a few seconds and then three dots indicating Scorpia is typing pops up. Adora is surprised at how fast she is responding, and she would have figured that Scorpia would be weirded out by this. 

**[Scorpia]** Oh my gosh! Hi Adora! Of course I can give you her number!   
**[Scorpia]** XXX-XXX-XXX

She doesn’t hesitate to add the number to her contacts. Adora feels utter relief that Scorpia gave it to her, but now she’s worried this has made things weird between them. They haven’t talked much but she doesn’t want things to be awkward the next time they talk. That also wouldn’t be good for Lonnie. 

**[Adora]** Thank you! I’m sorry if this was weird of me to ask.

 **[Scorpia]** Not at all! I’m happy you two made a connection, maybe you can help convince her to come to more game nights! 

Adora sighs in relief that she and Scorpia are still okay and laughs at how Catra sounded so uninterested when she said she doesn’t like game night. She doubts she’ll be able to convince Catra to do _anything_ let alone go to game night. 

**[Adora]** I’ll try my best!

 **[Scorpia]** I’ve been trying for years!!! Maybe an extra push from you will help! 

For some reason, Adora doesn’t understand why she is blushing. She clears her throat trying to get it to go away but her face still feels warm.

 **[Scorpia]** I’ll talk to you later! I need to get back to work! Good luck with Catra!

Adora doesn’t respond, she’s too busy freaking out about the fact that she now has Catra number.

—

It’s been days and Adora still hasn’t texted Catra. Nothing sounds right and the longer she waits the more anxious she gets. She still thinks about her every night before she goes to sleep no matter how hard she tries not to. 

Adora is at work trying to focus on sanitizing the tables when she gets a text. She has a specific ringtone for Lonnie, so Adora knows when she texts her and can respond instantly. She also has one for Bow and Glimmer but they are in the same room and have no reason to text her. It might be Scorpia since they have been texting a little bit since she asked for Catras number.

When she sees the name of who it’s from her heart stops beating for a second before pounding in her ears.

 **[Catra]** hey adora   
**[Catra]** this is catra btw

Adora drops the bottle in her hand, and it makes a loud bang against the metal table causing Glimmer to scream, but she doesn’t look up from her phone. 

“Adora? Are you okay?” Glimmer asks while walking towards her. Adora hastily puts her phone in her pocket. There’s nothing to hide but for some reason, she doesn’t want Glimmer to see the text. 

“Yeah, I just...need to use the bathroom. I’ll be right back.” Adora tries to give her a reassuring smile but Glimmer still looks worried. Normally Adora would keep reassuring her that she’s fine but she needs to get somewhere private and freak out about this alone. 

She locks herself in the employee bathroom and slides down the wall, the cool tile feeling nice against her now hot skin. She stares at the messages and her fingers start moving before her mind fully comprehends what’s happening. 

**[Adora]** Hi.

She cringes at herself for not saying more.

 **[Adora]** How’d you get my number? 

She curses at her herself for saying something so stupid, but three dots pop up and her eyes are glued to the screen.

 **[Catra]** scorpia   
**[Catra]** she told me you asked for my number but that was a while ago   
**[Catra]** i was tired of waiting and wanted to talk to you 

A smile grows on Adora’s face and it feels like it might split her face open but she doesn’t care. Catra wants to talk to _her._

 **[Adora]** You want to talk to me?

 **[Catra]** duh why else would I have txted you first 

Adora hits herself in the forehead with her phone for being so dumb sometimes. Her phone buzzes again taking her attention away from her self-deprecation. 

**[Catra]** why’d you never text me

Adora takes a deep breath and tries to think of an excuse but she also doesn’t want to lie. Even without Catra being in the room Adora still felt the need to tell her the truth.

 **[Adora]** I got nervous. 

**[Catra]** are you still nervous

 **[Adora]** Yes.

 **[Catra]** ur cute

Adora swears she almost had a heart attack when she read that. 

**[Catra]** you don’t need to be nervous   
**[Catra]** i dont bite 

Adora shivers at the thought of Catra’s teeth against her skin and promptly smashes her head into the wall to make the thought go away. It worked but now her head hurts. Adora believes she deserves it for thinking about another woman like this when she’s with Lonnie but her brain won’t stop. _She’s just a friend and nothing more._ Adora reminds herself before taking a deep breath and looking back at her phone. 

**[Adora]** What did you want to talk about?

 **[Catra]** anything you want to tell me

Adora smiles at the memory of their first conversation together. She wishes she could be seeing Catras face right now instead of just the giant C for her contact photo. 

**[Catra]** actually i did have something i wanted to talk to you about   
**[Catra]** wanna hang this saturday

Adora rereads the text over and over again and makes sure she isn’t reading it wrong. She isn’t. She instantly starts typing a response but her fingers are shaking so bad she keeps messing it up and has to retype it a few times. 

**[Adora]** Yes, please!

 **[Catra]** wow someones excited 

Adora’s sure her face is going to melt at how hot is it burning right now. 

**[Adora]** I’m sorry. I just had a lot of fun talking to you. 

**[Catra]** dont apologize im just teasing   
**[Catra]** i had fun too

It may be a simple comment but Adora feels like she’s flying. She was so nervous that if she were to text Catra that she would either ignore her or tell her to go away. But now _she’s_ texting _her_ and asking to hang out with _her_. 

**[Catra]** meet me at my place around 12?

Shit. Adora forgot to tell her she needs to ask Lonnie if it’s okay. The only people Adora can hang out with without asking permission is Bow and Glimmer since Adora’s known them longer than she’s known, Lonnie. Anyone else Adora needs to ask for permission. Adora has reasoned that it’s because Lonnie just wants her to know that she’s safe, so she needs to know where she is, at what time, and who she’s with. She still has to tell Lonnie when she’s going to do things with Bow and Glimmer, she just doesn’t need permission. 

**[Adora]** Let me just ask Lonnie if it’s okay. 

**[Catra]** is she ur girlfriend or ur mom

 **[Adora]** Oh she’s my girlfriend.

 **[Catra]** …

 **[Adora]** What?

 **[Catra]** nothing.   
**[Catra]** lmk if ur...allowed...to come over or not

 **[Adora]** Will do!

Adora is confused about why Catra reacted like that. She didn’t tell her foster mother’s name or her girlfriend’s name so she wouldn’t know who Lonnie is. She doesn’t know Catra well enough to understand how she texts but something feels off. Adora can’t figure out what it is and she wants it to go away. 

**[Adora]** I have to get back to work. I’ll talk to you later! 

Adora puts her phone away and leaves the bathroom the feeling still not going away. She walks back to the room with Bow and Glimmer trying her best to hide her excitement that she might be able to see Catra again and soon. It seems that she has failed in hiding it because Glimmer is eyeing her with a smug grin. 

“What’s got you all excited?” Adora blushes and averts her eyes but that seems to egg on Glimmer even more. She rushes over to Adora and grabs her arms keeping her in place. “Oh my gosh, what got you all riled up?” 

Adora hesitates to respond and then her phone goes off causing her blush to deepen. Glimmer reaches for the phone and before Adora can even understand what’s going on, Glimmer already has possession of it. Adora tries to grab it out of her hands- “Bow! Catch!” Glimmer tosses the phone to Bow and he catches it no problem. Adora rushes over to him trying to take it, but he’s strong and able to hold Adora back long enough to read the texts - they all know each other’s passwords. 

“Whose Catra?” He asks when Adora finally overpowers him and grabs her phone while hastily putting it back in her pocket. Not a second later Glimmer takes it again and runs behind Bow while opening the phone and reading the texts. Adora tries to get it back but it’s half-assed this time. Even if she were to get it back in time Bow already read them and he’ll just tell Glimmer everything anyway.

“Come on, guys. Will you knock it off?” Adora’s face is burning and looking at her friends desperately to leave it be, but it’s too late. Glimmer finished reading the texts and hands the phone back to Adora. 

“Not until you tell us who she is.” Glimmer demands while crossing her arms. She may be half Adora’s size but she can be very intimidating when she wants to be. She gets it all from her mother. 

“She’s just a friend,” Adora admits, but it doesn’t seem to satisfy Glimmer. 

“Yeah, a friend we’ve never heard of. _Spill._ ” Glimmer pokes a finger into Adora’s chest but there’s practically no force behind it. Adora rubs the back of her neck while taking a few deep breaths hoping it will help her stop blushing. It doesn’t. 

“I met her at Scorpia’s when I went to game night with Lonnie.” Bow beams at her but Glimmer glares at her asking for more. “She showed me her art and we...talked.” 

“Are you gonna hang out with her on Saturday?” Bow asks while practically bouncing in place. 

“I want to, I just need to check with Lonnie.” Glimmer’s eyes narrow as she lets out an annoyed huff but then takes a deep breath and it goes away. They know about her needing to ask Lonnie if it’s okay to hang out with someone, but that doesn’t mean Glimmer didn’t give her crap about it at first. Adora explained to her that Lonnie just wants her to be safe and that it’s fine. Glimmer dropped it after that, but Adora can still tell it bothers her, for some reason Adora doesn’t understand. 

“Well let us know how it goes. We’re really happy you made a new friend!” Bow lurches forward trapping her into a hug that she gladly accepts. She hasn’t made a new friend since Bow and Glimmer introduced them to the rest of their friend group, but that was years ago. Adora has made some acquaintances since then, but they never hung out outside of school. 

“Is it weird that I’m nervous about meeting her even though we’ve already met?” Glimmer laughs a little while joining in on the hug, helping Adora’s nerves calm down a little. 

“Not at all. You were with other people before, now it’ll just be the two of you. It’s normal to be nervous when hanging out with a new friend.” Adora doesn’t mention that when she first met Catra they were alone, in her bedroom, and she was sobbing. It didn’t seem important for her to mention. 

When they break apart from the hug Adora takes out her phone to see the new text and feels her blush returning. 

**[Catra]** cant wait

—

“Do you remember the rules?” Lonnie asks as she drives Adora to Catra’s house. Adora asked Lonnie about hanging out with her the night Catra texted her but she had said no. Catra tried planning for a different day, but Lonnie still said no. She said she doesn’t know Catra that well, even though she has known Scorpia for years. She doesn’t trust her, doesn’t like her. Adora doesn’t understand how that is possible. 

Adora didn’t tell Catra how Lonnie felt about her, so she just said it’s not a good day to meet up. Then Catra suggested other days, which Adora still had to say no to, even though she desperately wanted to say yes. After a few weeks, Adora got the idea to have Scorpia present with them when they hang out. Lonnie agreed to it, and Adora had to keep herself from literally jumping for joy. When she asked Catra if Scorpia could hang out with them as well Catra said she could be there/ She also made some comment about leaving Scorpia a tip for babysitting but Adora just ignored it, not getting what she meant by that. 

“Yes, I do.” 

“Repeat them to me so I know for sure.” 

“Home by ten.” She also needs to get a ride if she’s out past six because Lonnie doesn’t like to drive that late if she doesn’t have to. Catra asked to meet up at 12, and since it’s a Saturday Adora can stay out late without worrying about work. She also made dinner for Lonnie the previous night so if she is home late, all she has to do is reheat it. 

“Scorpia must be present at all times, and, hourly check-ins.” Adora has to call her on the hour every hour with an update as to where she is, what they have been doing, and if they are with anyone new. At first, Adora was kind of confused why she has to do this since she shares her location with Lonnie - even though Lonnie doesn’t share it with her - but when she first tried to argue about this rule, it didn’t end well. Adora had already set an alarm to go off a minute before each hour so if she got distracted she wouldn’t miss the calls. 

“Don’t forget to not eat junk food or drink alcohol. I don’t want you gaining weight.” Adora subconsciously pulls at the skin on her stomach, it’s taut even though she isn’t even flexing. Lonnie has always...encouraged Adora to keep her body in tip-top shape. She’s helped her figure out a diet when they moved in together. It has helped her muscles become more toned, and Adora appreciates how much Lonnie cares. 

“Right. No junk food or alcohol. I promise.” Lonnie grunts in acknowledgment and for the rest of the car ride they sit in silence. Adora gets significantly giddier the longer they drive. She remembers the drive only being about thirty minutes but it feels like they have been driving for two hours. 

When Adora recognizes Catra’s street she keeps herself from practically jumping out the door while the car is still moving. She’s not sure why she is so excited to see her again, but also can’t help it. They have been texting a lot every day the past few weeks, but Adora prefers to talk to her in person than over the phone. Especially since Adora could only text her at night after Lonnie fell asleep or when Lonnie wasn’t home. Adora would also text her while she was at work but that was only a little because she _actually_ had to work. 

Lonnie doesn’t necessarily stop or keep Adora from talking to people, but Adora knows she doesn’t like Catra. It makes sense though, she doesn’t know her that well, and she just wants Adora to be safe. She felt bad hiding it from Lonnie but she loves talking to her. Every night they talked until late in the morning. Every night since Adora has fallen asleep with a smile on her face. Even though she was sleeping less, each morning she felt more refreshed than she ever has when waking up. 

Lonnie pulls up in front of the house and before she’s even put it in park Adora pulls out her phone to text Catra. 

**[Adora]** Here!!!

Adora gets out of the car and walks over to open the car door for Lonnie. She gets out of the car and walks straight to the front door. Adora rushes up behind her and knocks on the door for her. A few seconds later Catra opens the door, “Hey, Adora.” Adora’s heart skips a beat. 

Catra’s hair isn’t pulled back in a headband this time, it’s down and messy, but somehow perfectly messy. She’s wearing a cropped sweatshirt, the hood and right sleeve are red and it cuts diagonally through the torso. The right sleeve is white, and some of the torso below the red. The extra space in the middle creates a black triangle. It would expose her abdomen but she’s wearing high-waisted skinny jeans that fit her small curvy figure perfectly. Adora smiles when she sees the white slip-on vans that Catra has made unique with her own art. 

Adora looks back at Catra’s face and falls into her blue-gold eyes. She forgot how beautiful they look in person. “Hi, Catra.” Catra smiles at her and Adora can’t help but notice her canines are significantly bigger than her other teeth. She feels herself blush when she thinks back to Catra’s ‘i don’t bite’ text and feeling a little disappointed. 

“Where’s Scorpia?” Lonnie asks. Adora jumps a little, having completely forgotten Lonnie was still there and she rubs the back of her neck. When Catra’s gaze moves over to Lonnie her toothy smile disappears into a thin line.

“I’m here!” Scorpia calls out from inside the house. She comes running up behind Catra who is now staring daggers into Lonnie. Adora doesn’t understand why she is acting like this towards Lonnie. Scorpia comes up behind Catra and wraps an arm around her shoulders. 

“Scorpia,” Catra says through clenched teeth still staring at Lonnie. Scorpia hastily takes her arms off Catra now looking sheepish and blushing furiously. 

“Right! Personal space! Sorry, wildcat.” Scorpia scratches the back of her head before turning to Lonnie beaming once again. “Don’t worry Lonnie! We’re gonna have a great time!” 

Adora turns to Lonnie who is staring right back at Catra. Adora grabs Lonnie's hand bringing her girlfriend’s attention back to her. She smiles at Lonnie before leaning down to kiss her but Lonnie turns her head making Adora end up kissing her cheek. Adora figures Lonnie doesn’t want to show too much PDA in front of people. Now that Adora thinks about it, it’s been a while since she’s kissed Lonnie on the lips. She buries the thought and pulls away. “I’ll see you later. I love you.” Lonnie puts a hand on her hip and pokes Adora’s chest. 

“Remember the rules.” Adora smiles and nods. Lonnie looks back at Catra and Scorpia before turning around to walk back to the car. 

Before Adora can turn to look at Catra and Scorpia her vision goes dark as the life is squeezed out of her. “I’m so excited to hang out with you!” Scorpia exclaims and Adora would return the hug if her arms weren’t pinned to her sides. She still sighs contently into the hold even though she can barely breathe, it still feels so nice. Scorpia let’s go and backs away looking bashful. It’s really weird seeing such a buff girl like her act so shy, but it makes Adora smile. “Sorry. I’m a hugger.” 

“I don’t mind...You give really good hugs.” Scorpia practically squeals and pulls Adora into another hug. She can breathe this time and can hug her back. Adora then remembers Catra is still standing in the doorway and backs away from the hug. 

The brunette is looking past her at Lonnie getting into the car. Her hands are clenched into fists at her sides, and she looks furious. Adora doesn’t understand why and tries to figure out what she did wrong. She hears Lonnie's car drive away and then Catra takes a deep breath before unclenching her fists. She looks Adora in the eye, and she swears she can see the tension leave Catra’s body, but something still feels off. 

“Let’s not stand out in the cold! Come on in Adora!” Scorpia exclaims while putting an arm around her. She enjoys the touch but she can’t fully enjoy it knowing something is wrong with Catra. 

Catra moves to the side giving Scorpia and Adora enough room to walk past her. She flashes a small smile but it doesn’t reach her eyes. Adora wants to cry. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Catra 100% texts in all lower case, no one can change my mind. 
> 
> Adora and Catra are finally going to hang out together!! Adora obviously is simping for Catra as well but she just pushes it all down and says they are just friends (-,: causing her to not truly understand her feelings because why should this be so easy >:) 
> 
> Please let me know of any mistakes and what you think is gonna happen. Will Catra learn about Adora's rules? Will Catra tell Adora about being in an abusive relationship? Will Scorpia crush Adora in one of her hugs? Let me know what you think :)
> 
> I've started making smaller updates about the status of the next chapter on Twitter so if you want to be more up to date please follow me on there! As always I'll post an update on all three for the next chapter! 
> 
> Find me here:  
> Twitter @supersimptrio  
> Reddit u/momoajojo  
> Tumblr @momoajojo


	4. rules are broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora breaks a rule.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It makes me so happy to see all the positive feedback on these chapters. I love this story and I'm so happy you guys are liking it!
> 
> If there are any major mistakes in this please let me know in the comments!
> 
> Enjoy!

Catra is seething and trying her best to calm down. She doesn’t want to be mad in front of Adora but she also wasn’t expecting to see Lonnie _with_ her. She thought Adora would have driven on her own, or Lonnie would have dropped her off outside and then left without getting out of the car, but no. It was like she was a mother dropping off her child at a new friend’s house. Catra hadn’t noticed her at first because she was too distracted by Adora. 

She’s wearing a white tank top under a blue short-sleeve button-up that is open. It leaves her arms on full display which Catra doesn’t mind _at all_. Her tank top is tucked into jeans that are not tight but also not loose. She is also wearing worn-in red converses that look brand new except for the laces. 

It also didn’t help her anger that the first thing Lonnie said was her asking for Scorpia. When Catra read the text of Adora asking her if Scorpia could be present at all times while they hang out she almost threw her phone at the wall.

The only thing that stopped her from doing that or going completely ballistic was her mother’s voice in the back of her head. When Catra called her on game night, she explained how Adora was acting and agreed that it wasn’t normal. She told Catra she still can’t make any assumptions though, she needs to learn more about the situation before she can figure out what to do. 

Razz told her that she needs to be careful with Adora, she may not understand she is in one. It’s been really fucking hard for Catra to be careful, especially since it took literal weeks until Lonnie finally gave Adora _permission_ to hang out with her. Just thinking about that fact makes her blood boil.

When Scorpia told her that Adora asked for her number she didn’t know how to react. She was excited for the chance to see and talk to Adora again for two reasons. One, she really liked talking to Adora and wanted to see her again and two it would make it easier to start her plan on getting Adora out of this situation.

When days had gone by and Adora still hadn’t texted her she couldn’t wait anymore. Catra didn’t want to lose her chance to help Adora and didn’t care what it seemed like for her to text first. She asked Scorpia for Adora’s number and texted her immediately. 

She was hesitant about asking Adora to hang out in person so soon but it would be easier to talk to her in person than over text. Catra knew she shouldn’t text Adora about her worries or suspicions in case Lonnie saw them. It would be safer to talk to her in person so she could see Adora was safe and not have a panic attack if she stopped messaging Catra out of the blue. 

It was easier than she thought to not mention it because they talked about anything but Lonnie the past few weeks - except when Catra brought up trying to hang out again. For some reason, Adora would mainly text her at night but Catra didn’t really mind just thought it was a bit weird. Adora had told Catra, her schedule and she got out of work pretty early. They would text a little during the day when she knew Adora was at work, and Catra was working as well. Since she waitresses at a bar that’s mainly popular for their drinks and not their crappy food, it’s never really busy during the day. 

They would talk for hours at night, and Catra loved it. They never got too deep with their conversations, just talking about things they are into, and whatnot. When Catra learned she likes horses, she was going to make a horse-girl joke but when she got another text saying Adora hasn’t ridden in almost a year, she stopped herself. She suspects Lonnie may have something to do with that but she’ll have to figure that out later. 

When Scorpia hugged her and Adora smiled she had a conflicting reaction. She liked seeing Adora smile but knowing that she’s touched starved just made her anger worse. She’ll make sure Adora sits by Scorpia because she knows Scorpia is touchy but not in _that_ way. 

Adora looks nervous as she walks past Catra into the house, she needs to figure out how to calm down. With Lonnie now out of eyesight, it’s getting easier but now that she has Adora here, it’s getting harder by the second to be careful. Scorpia’s following behind her giving Catra two thumbs up. Catra rolls her eyes and closes the door. She walks into the living and sits in the single chair. Scorpia sits on the couch and Adora stays standing seeming unsure of what to do. 

Catra points to the area next to Scorpia - not trusting herself to be able to speak without sounding angry at the moment - who extends an arm out to Adora. She smiles and sits next to Scorpia who rests her arm on the back of the couch behind Adora. 

“How are you? What have you been up to? You’re a vet right? What’s that like? What’s your favorite animal? Oh! What’s your spirit animal?” Scorpia asks and Adora looks at her lap blushing. 

“Scorpia, chill,” Catra says without having a problem at getting her voice even - this is not the first time she’s had to tell Scorpia to chill. Scorpia looks at her and then back at Adora. She shrinks in size and moves her arm from behind Adora onto her lap. 

“I’m sorry Adora. I get excited meeting new people.” Adora’s eyes shoot up to Scorpia looking surprised. She moves her hands to grab Scorpia's arm but then stops herself. Catra’s anger is rising again remembering how Lonnie turned her face away from Adora’s kiss. Not that she didn’t want to see them kiss, but seeing how Lonnie just rejected her like that made Catra want to sucker punch her in the face right then and there. 

“No, please don’t apologize. I’m just not used to people asking me so many questions.” Catra’s anger is now burning like a house fire inside her. 

“Really?” Scorpia asks. Catra grits her teeth, she didn’t tell Scorpia about Adora’s situation since she isn’t _exactly_ sure she’s right. Like Razz said she still needs some more information to prove it but she has a feeling she’s not wrong. 

“Yeah, people don’t talk to me much.” Adora looks a little sad but then a fond smile grows on her face. “Except for my friends of course. The last person to ask me so many questions was Glimmer, but that’s because she didn’t like me at first and was trying to figure me out.” 

“She didn’t like you?! How is that possible you’re so nice!” Scorpia puts an arm around Adora’s shoulders holding her close. Adora blushes but also smiles and seems to relax at the physical contact. Catra mentally pats herself on the back for being right about putting her next to Scorpia. She’s happy to see Adora smiling and talking to Scorpia but her rage is still increasing by the second as she thinks about how Lonnie treats her. How it reminds her of- Catra kills the memory before she can think about it too much. No need to enrage herself any more than she already is. 

“She just didn’t trust me but thankfully Bow was there to calm her down. She can be _intense_ sometimes.” Adora laughs again and it almost helps Catra’s anger stop rising. Almost. “But now they’re my best friends so it’s all good!” 

“That’s great! Catra’s my best friend,” Scorpia turns to Catra beaming at her and holding out her fist. “Isn’t that right wildcat?” 

Catra doesn’t say anything as she lifts her hand to bump her fist while rolling her eyes. Adora looks at her and gives her a small smile that causes Catra to blush a little but she forces it down. Scorpia lowers her arm and turns back to Adora. Catra doesn’t pay attention to what she is saying as she just stares at Adora while she responds to Scorpia’s thousands of questions. 

Catra lost her temper a while ago but now she’s about to fall off the edge and run on impulse. She doesn’t want to do that in case she pushes Adora too far so she keeps herself in control - which is getting more and more difficult by the second. 

“You mentioned at game night that you like working out right?” Scorpia asks and Adora nods. “Me too! What kind of stuff do you do?” 

“A mix of everything, but I do a lot of cardio, and weight lifting mostly.” Adora looks over her shoulder in the direction of the home gym. “I’m really jealous of your gym, it’s perfect for what I do and I hate having to go to public gyms.” 

“Well, you are more than welcome to come over anytime to use it!” Adora looks back at her completely surprised and then to Catra. She gives Adora a small smile and a nod. Adora looks back at Scorpia beaming. 

“Thank you! But I don’t want to bother you guys…” Adora rubs the back at her neck while looking down at her lap. Catra would find it cute if it didn’t remind her about how she did the same thing when Lonnie was involved. 

“You won’t be! Catra doesn’t use it that much, and I only use it a few times a week, I’m more into CrossFit and I go to the public gyms for that.” 

“You do CrossFit?! That’s so cool! I’ve always wanted to try it!” 

“You should come with me sometime!” Scorpia smacks her on the back causing Adora to jolt forward and look a little flustered. Scorpia puts her hands to her mouth and slumps her shoulders. “Oops! I’m so sorry, sometimes I forget how strong I am. I’ll also stop touching you if it bothers you, I know I can be too much sometimes.” 

“It’s okay, just wasn’t prepared for the smack, and…” Adora looks at her lap while fiddling with her fingers a little. “I don’t think it’s too much. It’s nice.” 

Scorpia sits up straight, beaming once again, and wraps an arm around Adora's shoulders, “Yay! I love giving hugs so if you ever want one just ask!” Adora blushes and leans more into Scorpia. Catra wishes she was the one holding her but knows she wouldn’t be able to hold her as gently as Scorpia can at the moment. “I give great hugs! Don’t I wildcat?” 

Catra grunts and looks away from Scorpia’s doe-like eyes. “I guess.” Scorpia coos and Catra can’t help but smile a little, some of the anger leaving her. But when Catra turns to look back at her and see’s Adora looking so happy to be touched it all comes back, maybe even more than before. She clears her throat hoping it will help keep her voice even. “I’m just glad you started dating Perfuma. When you did the number of hugs you almost killed me with lessened significantly.” 

“I thought you liked my hugs...” Scorpia now looks a little hurt, but Catra knows she isn’t truly hurt - well maybe just a little.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever but you would squeeze the life out of me almost every day, now that you’re with Perfuma it’s about once a week.” Catra smiles at Scorpia, and she smiles back. At first, Catra would push Scorpia away when she tried to hug her, but after a while, she stopped fighting and let it happen. Some days Catra really couldn’t handle it and had to tell Scorpia she needs space which she gladly gave her - it took a few times of Catra losing it when Scorpia _didn’t_ for her to fully understand when Catra was being serious and when she wasn’t. 

“How long have you and Perfuma been together?” Adora asks, causing Scorpia to instantly blush and scratch the back of her head with the arm that used to be around Adora. Adora looks at the arm and frowns a little, Catra grips onto the cushion trying to keep herself back from screaming. She never wants to see that frown again. 

“Uh about two years now, we met my senior year of college, and a few months later we started dating.” Scorpia proceeds to talk about Perfuma and how much she loves her and blah, blah, blah. Adora is staring at her while listening to every word she is saying, after a while Catra notices a difference in Adora’s appearance. She is smiling at Scorpia, but it doesn’t look genuine and her eyes look sad. It’s the last straw for Catra, she’s officially running on impulse now, careful be damned. She stands abruptly causing Scorpia to stop talking and the two women to look at her. 

“Adora, Scorpia said you never got a tour of the upstairs, let me show you,” Catra says trying to keep her voice even but to do that she had to say it through clenched teeth. She starts walking out the living room and then turns back before leaving the room to look straight at Scorpia, “ _alone_.” 

Scorpia smiles at her and nods. Adora seems worried while she looks back and forth between the two women. She opens her mouth to say something but Catra continues walking out the room and up the stairs before she does. She reaches the top and opens her bedroom door. Waiting in the hallway for Adora and watches her slowly walk up the stairs seeming nervous. Catra gestures for her to come into the room which she does. Catra follows her in and when she closes the door, she locks it. 

“What are you doing?” Adora asks standing by the corner of the bed, avoiding Catra’s eyes with her arms crossed, but not out of anger, more like a way of protecting herself.

“I wanted to talk to you alone.” Catra moves to stand a few inches in front of her, Adora doesn’t move but she does tense up a little. 

“But Scorpia is supposed to be with us.” Adora makes eye contact with Catra and her face turns bright red before she looks away again. Catra clenches her fist to keep herself from yelling. 

“Is that a rule?” Catra asks her voice rough from the anger practically seeping out of her body. Adora’s eyes widen and she steps back a little. Catra takes that as a yes, and steps closer. “Are there any other rules?” 

Adora doesn’t say anything, she turns her body slightly away from Catra but doesn’t back away. 

“What are the rules?” Catra asks softly this time, trying to show Adora that she isn’t angry with her. That she is here to help and that she is safe here. Adora takes a deep breath, looks Catra in the eye again, and then quickly looks away. 

“It’s nothing.” Adora’s voice is quiet, and not convincing. 

“Can you tell me that while looking me in the eyes?” Catra applauds herself internally for being able to speak to Adora calmly at the moment even though she is holding back from punching a wall right now. Adora tenses even more, and then looks Catra in the eyes. She opens her mouth and then soon closes it. She doesn’t look away this time and neither does Catra.

“Catra, please.” Adora’s voice is desperate and she can see tears starting in her eyes. She’s pushing too far she knows that but this reaction is only making her anger worse, which is making her self-control almost nonexistent. 

“Fine.” Catra grabs Adora’s hand pulling her out of the room and down the stairs. She peeks into the living room to see Scorpia still sitting on the couch. “We’re going out, I’m taking the car, don’t wait up for us.” 

Scorpia looks over at her confused but Catra hardens her gaze. Scorpia raises her hands surrendering, “Ok wildcat, have fun.” Catra grabs the car keys off the little table next to the front door and pulls Adora outside. 

“Catra wait! Scorpia is supposed to stay with us.” Catra stops walking and turns to look Adora in the eyes.

“Is that a rule?” Catra says more sternly this time. Adora avoids her gaze while biting her lower lip. Catra tightens her grip on Adora’s hand and continues pulling her to her car in the driveway. Well, Scorpia’s anyway, Catra normally drives a motorcycle but with how angry she is it might not be safe. Also, Adora might not want to. 

Catra unlocks the car and opens the passenger door. She lets go of Adora’s hand to press into her lower back and guide her into the seat. Adora isn’t physically resisting but she keeps making small whines of protest. 

Catra gets in the car, turns it on, rolls down her window, and pulls out the driveway. “Where are we going?” Adora asks quietly and Catra can see her looking at her through the corner of her eye. She has no destination in mind at the moment. She just needed to go for a drive. It normally helps calm her down, except that’s on her motorcycle where she can feel the cool air hitting her entire body but the driver window will have to do for now. She also didn’t want to be around Scorpia now learning that she not only had to be home with them but also present in _every_ room. 

“It’s a surprise,” Catra says now able to successfully keep her voice even with the wind helping her nerves. Adora whines again but she doesn’t ask Catra to stop or take her home, so Catra keeps going. 

After a while of aimlessly driving around town, an alarm goes off from Adora’s phone. She curses and fumbles to get it out of her pocket before turning it off. 

“What’s that for?” Catra asks genuinely curious because now Adora seems a little freaked. 

“It’s nothing.” Not only is it the same words she said before when Catra asked about the rules but she said it the same too. It’s obviously not nothing and Catra bets it has something to do with Lonnie. Catra quickly grabs Adora’s phone out of her hands and puts it in between the driver seat and car door. “Catra stop! Please give it back!” 

Adora sounds terrified, like scared for her _life_ terrified. Catra keeps her eyes on the road but steals glances at Adora and can see that she is crying. She definitely pushed too far but Catra couldn’t hold back anymore. Adora doesn’t deserve this, no one does. 

“What’s it for?” Catra asks again.

“It’s nothing, I swear.” Bullshit.

“If it’s _nothing_ then why are you freaking out so much?” Adora freezes for a second. 

“Catra please you don’t understand, just give it back before it’s too late-“ Her phone goes off and Adora is becoming desperate. She moves closer to Catra placing a hand on her thigh while the other tries to grab the phone. Catra holds her back with one hand and uses the other to keep the car steady. “Catra _please_ ! Just let me answer it! _PLEASE_!” 

Adora is sobbing now and Catra feels terrible but she’s getting somewhere. She removes her hand from Adora’s chest to grab the steering wheel while the other grabs the ringing phone. Adora reaches out for it but Catra keeps it away while answering it and putting it on speaker. Adora freezes - like the car actually feels ten degrees colder, freezes. Everything is quiet for a few moments. 

“Adora are you there?!” Lonnie sounds really mad. Adora reaches for the phone again but Catra keeps it away. Adora drops her hand, resting both on Catra’s thigh, and moves her face closer to the phone now only an inch away from Catra. In any other situation, Catra would be loving this right now but hearing how mad Lonnie is and seeing how terrified Adora is killed all of her lust.

“Yes.” She sounds just like she did on game night when she was apologizing to her at the stairs. It makes Catra’s stomach turn. 

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Catra really wants to yell into the phone to tell Lonnie to fuck off and that Adora is never going back to her. But she needs to see how this plays out. This is the evidence she needs to solidify her theory. Adora starts to open her mouth- “Nothing? Fine. I’ll speak for you since apparently, your tiny brain isn’t working _again_ . First, you miss the hourly check-in, then you take forever to answer my call, and when you do, you don’t even speak to me! Just complete silence making _me_ speak first.” 

Catra has to pull over because she’s too angry to drive right now and she can’t tear her eyes away from Adora. She’s moved away from Catra to sit back in her seat now looking so small and defeated, nothing like the girl she showed her art to. Adora has her eyes closed and her hands clenched against her thighs. Catra moves the phone closer to Adora, making sure whatever she says next will be caught by the phone. 

“I’m sorry Lonnie, I didn’t-“ 

“I don’t want to hear it. Just be better next time.” Catra’s grip on the phone is so tight she’s surprised she hasn’t cracked the screen. 

“I will. I promise.” Adora’s voice is shaking now that she’s crying. She was tearing up before but now they are actually falling. Catra wants to chime in and tell this bitch off but she keeps quiet. She’s already pushed too far and that would just be _way_ too far. 

“You’re sleeping in the guest bedroom until further notice.” 

“Yes, ma’am.” Catra questions how Adora doesn’t see the problem with what’s happening right now. How she hasn’t noticed or realized how Lonnie treats her is not good. Like at _all._ “I’m sorry-“ 

Lonnie hangs up the phone. Catra lowers her hands into her lap, never taking her eyes off Adora. She’s now curled herself into a ball on the passenger seat, her hands in her hair and her back facing Catra. It reminds her of what Adora looked like when she barged into her room. Guilt grows in Catra’s chest. She needed to know for sure what was happening and now she does but she hates that it caused Adora to get upset like this. 

“Adora…” Catra puts the phone in the cup holder attached to the center console, then slowly extends her hand to rest on Adora’s back. She flinches at the touch but doesn’t bat her hand away or ask Catra to stop so she doesn’t. She rubs Adora’s back as she cries. When it stops and Adora is now only shakily breathing Catra takes a chance. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for that to happen but...what exactly just happened?” 

Adora takes a deep breath and turns to face forward in the seat. Catra moves her hand away but keeps it close to her. Adora looks at it and Catra notices her hands twitch towards it. She doesn’t hesitate to take Adora’s hand in hers. She seems to relax a little more. Catra sighs in relief knowing she didn’t completely fuck up. Adora looks at Catra, blushes, and then looks away. 

“You made me break a rule.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Catra tried her best but it's been weeks of being careful and she couldn't hold back anymore. Mama Razz gonna beat her with a broom for not being careful!!!
> 
> My friend read this and said, "If I was Adora I would have beaten up Catra and left the car."  
> I understand why. What Catra did was fucked up but Adora would nor could ever hurt Catra :)
> 
> DISCLAIMER - for those who don't know much about abusive relationships, do NOT do this. Catra could have put Adora in serious danger if this was real. Yes, she needed to know for sure what was happening but she could have gone about it in a different way. When I was writing this I put myself in Catra's head. How in this moment she was running on anger and impulsivity and I came up with this. Again, please do not put people in abusive relationships in danger like this. This is all fictional. If you know someone in an abusive relationship please contact the correct people. I am not a professional. 
> 
> I post mini-updates on Twitter about upcoming chapters so follow me there if you want to see them!  
> As always I will post on all these of the following platforms whenever I post a new chapter!
> 
> Find me here:  
> Twitter @supersimptrio  
> Reddit u/momoajojo  
> Tumblr @momoajojo


	5. memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora thinks back on her life with Shadow Weaver

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all were PISSED at Catra in the previous chapter and rightfully so. Catra is still trying to figure out how to help Adora, but just know she would never let anything bad happen to her. 
> 
> CW: Minor mentions of child abuse. It's super quick, not even longer than a sentence.
> 
> Hope y'all enjoy!

Adora curses herself for not realizing the time. She set the alarms in case she was distracted by them talking or playing games, but they had just been sitting in the car in complete silence. She should have been checking the time. She should have been better. She shouldn’t have gotten in the car. She should’ve taken the phone from Catra. She doesn’t understand why Catra wouldn’t just give her the phone. When she put it on speaker Adora completely froze, everything in her stopped. She knew since she missed the check-in call that she was already going to get yelled at, and she didn’t want Catra to hear it. She didn’t want Catra to know she wasn’t perfect.

After Lonnie hung up Adora expected Catra to tell her to get out of the car or take her back home and tell her to get Lonnie to pick her up. That she didn’t want to deal with this, she didn’t want to be associated with someone who wasn’t perfect. But instead, Catra comforted her. She let Adora cry while rubbing her back. She’s rarely had someone comfort her when this happens. She has cried in front of Glimmer and Bow before, but not like  _ this _ . The only other people who have seen Adora like this are Ms.Weaver and Lonnie whenever she messed up, and they don’t like it when she shows weakness. 

It was weird to have it but she didn’t want it to go away. When she turned around and Catra moved her hand, she instantly felt worse. She didn’t know if she was allowed to hold her hand so she didn’t do it but then Catra  _ did _ . Adora doesn’t want to tell her about the rules but there’s still something about Catra that makes her want to spill everything. When she looked into her eyes all she saw was a concern. Something she’s only seen from Glimmer and Bow but there was something different when it came from Catra.

“Are there other rules?” Catra asks in a quiet soft voice. Adora shuts her eyes tight trying to stop the tears from coming back. Catra squeezes her hand and Adora takes a deep shaky breath before nodding. “What are they?” 

Adora looks out the window and can see Catra looking at her in the reflection. Her mismatched-eyes are glued onto the back of Adora’s head waiting for an answer, she shivers under the intensity of it. “Home by ten. Scorpia has to be with us at all times. Hourly check-ins. No junk food or alcohol.” Catra’s hand stiffens and Adora can see her expression changing into how she looked when she saw Lonnie next to her. She’s angry. 

“Why do you need these rules?” Catra asks. Adora can tell by her voice that it’s through gritted teeth. She knows because Catra had already done it so many times today. Adora takes a deep breath and looks down at their entwined hands. 

“She’s my girlfriend, she cares about me.” Catra scoffs while tightening her grip and Adora waits for her to say something but she doesn’t. “She doesn’t want me out too late. She doesn’t know you that well so she wants Scorpia with us so she knows I’m safe. The check-ins are to update her on where I am and what we are doing. The food and alcohol are for…” 

Adora puts her free hand on her stomach and flexes feeling her abs underneath her tank top. “To keep me from gaining weight.” Catra makes some sort of grunting sound and lets go of Adora’s hand. She misses the touch already but doesn’t search for it. Though she doesn’t have to because it soon returns when Catra places a hand on her cheek. Adora gasps at the touch and opens her eyes as Catra moves her to look into each other eyes. 

“That’s fucking bullshit.” Catra’s voice is shaking a little but it’s still strong and powerful. It makes Adora shiver again. Catra looks stern but the hand on Adora’s cheek is gentle. Catra rubs her thumb against her cheek and Adora involuntarily leans into it. “You don’t deserve to live like this.” 

Adora stills and her eyes widen. She doesn’t understand what Catra means. Lonnie is doing all of this to protect Adora and to keep her safe. She wants what’s best for her. “She wants what’s best for me.” Her voice is quieter than she means it to be. Catra lets out a deep sigh and shakes her head a little. Adora doesn’t understand what’s going on. 

“And what’s best for you is for her to control your life?” Adora opens her mouth to say something but she then realizes she doesn’t know what to say and closes it. Catra’s eyes turn sad, but it’s not pity, it’s more tenderly. “She isn’t letting you live.” 

“Are you saying I’m not alive?” Adora asks genuinely confused by what Catra is saying now. Catra chuckles softly through her nose at her question. 

“You are alive, but you aren’t  _ living _ . At least not with what Lonnie is doing to you.” Adora is getting a little angry now and pulls away from the hand holding her face. Catra’s face drops and she pulls her hand back into her lap. 

“She is protecting me. She cares about me. She just wants me to be my best self. She wants me to be perfect,” Adora says and her voice comes out strong this time but it wavered as she spoke. Catra sighs again and adjusts herself to have one leg resting on the seat and facing Adora. 

“Is that what you want?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Is that what you want? Do you want to be perfect?” Adora thinks about it, about what she wants. She’s always wanted to make Ms.Weaver proud, and to do that she had to be perfect. Then she met Lonnie and she wants to make her happy and to do that she has to be perfect. 

“I have to be perfect.” Catra’s face hardens and Adora notices she’s clenching her fists so tight her knuckles have turned white. 

“But do you  _ want _ to be?” Her voice has hardened but Adora can still hear the care behind it. She doesn’t understand. She wants other people to be happy, and to do that she has to be perfect. How could someone be happy with her in their life if she wasn’t? 

“I-” Adora doesn’t say anything else. She doesn’t know what to say. Catra’s words are making her scared and confused.

“Adora...nobody’s perfect.” Those words again. The words that Adora doesn’t understand. The words that make it hard for her to think. They contradict everything she has been told, everything she has worked for. “You can’t live your life trying to meet everyone else’s expectations. You just have to live your life how  _ you _ want to, and if people don’t like it then they can fuck off.” Catra reaches to grab Adora’s hands and she lets her. Too dumbfounded by her words to even think about if she wants them to be held or not. No one has ever told her this before. Bow and Glimmer have told her she doesn’t have to try so hard sometimes, but she never explained why she does. “You are a great person who deserves to live how you want to. No one else should be dictating how you should do that.” 

“But, I-she-they-I-” The more Adora thinks about it the more she’s starting to freak out. Her breathing is getting out of control and she feels another panic attack coming along. Catra moves one of her hands from Adora’s to rest against her chest and puts pressure on it. Not enough to be pushing her back but enough for Adora to feel it there, helping ground her. Adora looks into her eyes as Catra takes a deep breath in and then out. She does it again and Adora copies her. Catra does it with her until her breathing has calmed down, but Adora is still freaking out on the inside. “What do I do?” 

“You can start by living,” Catra says before moving her hands away from her and grabs Adora’s phone from the cup holder. She holds the power button until the option to power it off pops up and she slides it across the screen. 

“What are you doing?!” Adora reaches for the phone, but Catra shoves it up her sweatshirt and when her hand comes back into view the phone is gone. Adora blushes when she realizes where Catra put it. 

“Showing you what it means to be alive.” Catra puts her hands back on the steering wheel and pulls back out onto the street. Adora sits back in the seat, still staring at Catra completely confused. She doesn’t bother asking her where she is taking her this time. 

Adora then looks out the window and watches the buildings pass them by. She doesn’t recognize where they are, and she is almost certain that Catra didn’t actually have a destination in mind when they first got in the car. She seems determined now like she’s on a mission. Adora is too busy with her thoughts to think about why she is even letting Catra do this. 

_ You can’t live your life trying to meet everyone else’s expectations.  _ Catra’s words echo in her head as she thinks back to her time with Ms.Weaver. 

That’s all she ever wanted to do as a child, is be what Ms.Weaver wanted her to be. She studied hard to get straight A’s all through school. She even got tutors to help her after school because she always struggled with math. 

One time she came from elementary school and Ms.Weaver was waiting for her with her report card in hand. Adora was hoping to get home before she did so she could hide it. She had recently failed a math test and didn’t want her to see. That night she went to bed with no dinner. 

From then on Adora pushed herself to be better, to be perfect. She did her homework right when she got home from school and double-checked it every time. She started playing sports in middle school to show Ms.Weaver that she can be perfect in everything. She worked hard at practice, made sure to stay healthy and be strong and put all her effort in every game making sure they always won - they did. 

Whenever she wasn’t studying or at practice, she would workout. At first, the boys at school would make fun of her for it but she just proved them wrong by beating them all in the number of reps she could in every workout, after that they stopped. In high school, she took all AP courses and was on the soccer team and baseball team - she would have done football but Ms.Weaver couldn’t afford the equipment and Adora was saving all her money for college. Adora became the youngest Team Captain in the school’s history for both sports. She made sure to help every one of her teammates at every practice and sometimes would even help them outside of practice. 

Over the summer when she didn’t have classes she was working or riding. She gave herself Sunday’s off of doing anything but riding - probably the only thing she ever gave herself that was just hers in life. She didn’t have time to do it during the school year with homework and sports. It was also always better in the summer anyway because the grass was green and flowers were blooming. It still killed her not to do it in the winter though. 

She took any summer job that would hire her. Since most places were just giving her part-time she was able to do three jobs. One at an ice cream shop, the other at a grocery store, and a babysitting job. The babysitting was always at night and not every day so it still gave her time to hang out with friends. 

Even with her friends she still felt the need to please. She wanted to see them be happy and smiling, and she couldn’t do that if she got upset or complained. She always did what everyone else wanted to do. When they said they were having fun, it made Adora feel good, even if she wasn’t enjoying what they were doing. It was worth it if it meant seeing her friends be happy. 

Bow and Glimmer are a little different than her childhood friends. They do ask her what she wants to do but she always responds with, “Whatever you guys want to do is fine by me.” Sometimes they still bug her about what she wants to do, but after a while they back off. There isn’t much that they do that she doesn’t like anyway. Except maybe when Glimmer wants to go on a shopping trip and they spend  _ hours _ walking around. 

Adora thinks back to all the times she was dragged to parties in high school she didn’t want to attend. For one if Ms.Weaver found out Adora would be severely punished, and two she hated it. But her friends were really excited about them so she would always go, except when she was able to get away with the excuse of an exam or game happening the next day, which was rare.

It was hard for Adora to try to please her friends and Ms.Weaver at the same time. Sometimes she had to do things that would make her angry but it would make her friends happy. There were times she did have to draw the line and say no to her friends - she would always feel terrible for the next few days. 

Her whole childhood she just wanted to be what Ms.Weaver wanted her to be. She did everything to make her proud, she pushed herself her entire life, never relaxing for a second. Adora feels tears start to well up in her eyes as she starts to realize that Catra is right. She shouldn’t have to live like this, and she still is, with Lonnie. 

Adora doesn’t know what to do. She still loves Lonnie and cares about her. She still has the urge to make her happy, but the only way to do that is for her to be perfect. But now she doesn’t know if she wants to do that. She also doesn’t know how to  _ not _ try to be perfect. 

“We’re here,” Catra says, breaking Adora from her thoughts. Adora looks around to see that Catra has parked in a Wendy’s parking lot. 

“What are we doing here?” Adora asks. Catra gets out of the car and walks around to the other side of the car to open Adora’s door. She reaches a hand out for her to take it but Adora doesn’t. Adora doesn’t move as she stares into Catra’s heterochromia eyes. She has a small sweet smile on her face and the look in her eye is intriguing to Adora. 

“Time to learn how to live, Princess.” Adora feels herself blush at the unexpected nickname. Adora hesitates to take Catra’s hand. She feels like she should demand her phone back and call Lonnie to come pick her up, but on the other hand, she wants to see what Catra has planned. Adora slowly reaches out for it and when she takes it, Catra smiles wide while pulling her out of the car. 

Catra closes the door, before locking the car and pulls her into the restaurant. Adora hasn’t been to a fast food place since high school. She stopped eating this type of food years ago but would still go with her friends and just not order anything. Catra is still holding her hand as she moves them to the back of the line to order. 

“Do you know what you want?” Catra asks looking up at the menus. 

“You seem to be asking me a lot.” Adora jokes and Catra does a small squeaky laugh that makes Adora stop breathing for a second. She then realizes she has been staring at Catra since she took her hand and quickly turns to looks at the menus before she notices. She looks over the options to suddenly feels overwhelmed with the number of options. “I don’t know what to get.” 

“It’s okay, I’ll order for the both of us.” Adora looks back at Catra to see she’s still looking at the menus. She then looks down at their entwined hands and has to resist the urge to rub her finger against the back of Catra’s soft hands. She’s surprised Catra is even still holding her hand. Scorpia did say something about personal space with her yet she’s still close and has been touching Adora a lot - not that she minds. Also, Lonnie always complains about how calloused her hands are so they don’t hold hands. Catra’s feel soft against hers. 

“What can I get you?” Adora shoots her head up now realizing they are in front of the cashier. She didn’t notice they had moved. 

“Can we get…” Catra proceeds to list off numbers, and Adora doesn’t understand what they mean but it seems like  _ a lot _ of food. When Catra stops listing off numbers the cashier pulls out two large cups stacked together. 

“That’ll be $61.05.” Adora’s eyes widen at the price but she doesn’t hesitate to pull out her leather bi-fold wallet.

“I got this. Put your wallet away,” Catra says already handing a card to the cashier before Adora can get hers out. 

“But-” Catra lets go of her hand to grab the one holding her wallet. 

“Put it away.” Catra looks Adora in the eye with a hardened expression. Adora blushes under the intense gaze and puts her wallet away. Catra turns back to the cashier but Adora doesn’t look away from Catra. She doesn’t understand why but she can’t look away from her eyes. Catra takes her card back from the cashier and then looks up at Adora. “What?” 

“Huh?” Adora responds absentmindedly. 

“You’re staring. Is there something on my face?” Catra says before rubbing at her face and then Adora realizes she isn’t holding her hand anymore. She wants to grab it again but that would seem weird. 

“No there’s nothing, it’s just…” Catra drops her hands and looks at her with her mismatched eyes waiting for Adora to continue. “Your eyes are really pretty.” 

Catra’s mouth slightly opens, and Adora notices her cheeks pink up a little. She clears her throat and the pink tint fades from her caramel-colored skin. “Come on, we’re holding up the line,” Catra says quietly but still in her regular ‘whatever’ tone that Adora is slowly catching on to. Catra grabs the two cups before taking Adora’s hand again and she can’t help but smile. Catra’s hand feels nice in hers, they fit perfectly together. She stops moving and Adora looks around to see various soda labels above spouts in front of her. “What soda do you want?” 

Catra lets go of Adora’s hand to unstack the cups and hand her one. Adora had to suppress a whine when she let go. She shakes her head trying to get out of whatever funk is making her act like this around Catra. Adora looks through the flavors not sure what to pick. 

“Uh…Root Beer?” Catra raises an eyebrow. 

“Is that a question or a statement?” Adora blushes and then takes a deep breath. 

“Root Beer. I want Root Beer,” Adora says more firmly. Catra gives her a toothy grin before turning to the machines and pushes her cup against each lever. “What are you doing?” 

“Suicide Soda,” Catra says as she finishes filling the cup with the last flavor. She turns back to Adora who is now looking at her very confused. “Have you never done this before?” 

“That last time I drank soda was at a birthday party, in the fifth grade, and that was from a can,” Adora says laughing a little. Catra’s jaw drops as her eyes widen. 

“That’s a joke right?” 

“Nope,” Adora says while popping the ‘p’. Catra’s jaw opens wider, “I stopped drinking it because it’s not healthy, and then when I started working out it just gave me more reason not to.” 

“You started working out in the fifth grade?” Catra looks her up and down making her body feel like it was on fire. The shorter woman meets her eyes again and Adora snorts when she finally comprehends what Catra said. 

“No, in seventh grade when I started playing soccer.” Adora fills the entire cup with ice before pushing it against the lever under the Root Beer dispenser. 

“You played soccer?” Catra asks sounding genuinely interested that it makes Adora blush. She clears her throat and questions why she’s been doing that so much. Catra grabs her hand again and pulls her to a four-person table before sitting across from Adora, but she wishes Catra had sat next to her. 

“Yeah, I also played baseball.” Catra gets a smirk on her face that makes Adora nervous. 

“Of course you were a jock.” Catra crosses her arms while leaning back in her chair and putting her legs up on the one next to her. “I’m surprised you didn’t play football as well.” 

“I was not a jock! And I wanted to but I couldn’t afford the equipment, soccer was cheaper.” Catra’s expression turns a little sad but then the smirk soon returns. 

“That’s unfortunate. I would love to see you tackle someone.” Catra eyes Adora’s body again and she feels significantly hotter. She’s not sure if Catra knows what her words and actions are doing to her - Adora doesn’t even understand herself - but she’s sure her blushes have been obvious. Adora doesn’t  _ mind _ what Catra has been doing, she’s just not used to it. 

“I actually have tackled someone before,” Adora says before taking a sip of her drink. She can feel the sugar coating the inside of her mouth but she smiles at the flavor. Root Beer was always her favorite. 

Catra’s brows rise as her feet meet the floor again. She leans forward resting elbows against the table and her chin in the palm of her hands. “Tell me everything.” Catra’s face now filled with intrigue, and Adora couldn’t help but notice her pupils dilate a little - she may or may have been staring at her eyes the entire time they have been sitting down. 

“It’s a long story but the short version is this guy wouldn’t leave Glimmer alone, and got handsy with her. I tackled him before I even realized what happened.” It’s true. Adora and Glimmer were at the mall on  _ another _ shopping trip when this guy kept harassing her. Glimmer held her ground and told him to fuck off but he didn’t take the hint. When Adora saw him smack her ass she lost it and ran straight at him. Thankfully they didn’t get banned from the mall when they explained to the security team what happened. 

“Damn. That’s hot.” Adora feels her blush reach her ears and she takes another sip of her drink hoping it will cool her down. An employee yells out a number and Catra turns towards the front. “Oh, that’s us. I’ll be right back.” 

“I can help.” Adora stands but Catra leans over the table placing one hand on it, and the other on Adora’s shoulder. 

“I know you can but you can also just sit back and relax,” Catra says the last few words slow and in a low voice while pushing on her shoulder. Adora would fight back but the words made her legs go weak causing her to sit back down. Catra gives her another toothy grin before walking towards the counter. There are two trays filled to the edges with food that Catra picks up and carries over to their table, once again sitting across from Adora. 

Adora looks over the amount of food. She sees probably six burgers, three large fries, and five boxes of nuggets stacked on top of each other, with an array of sauces. Then a variety of sweets and desserts that make her teeth ache just looking at them. 

“Are you gonna make me eat this stuff?” Adora asks looking back up at Catra who has a hand full of fries already shoved into her mouth. She shallows them and lets out a deep sigh. 

“I’m not going to  _ make _ you do anything. You can leave anytime you want, just say the word and I’ll take you wherever you want to go. This is all about you doing what you want. I brought us here because I was hungry and because of that stupid fucking rule.” Catra huffs in annoyance while crossing her arms and looks off to the side. She then looks back at Adora and smirks. “I bet this food wouldn’t even affect your jock body anyway.” 

“I’m not a jock.” Adora rolls her eyes but can’t help and smile when Catra’s smirk grows bigger. Catra leans forward and reaches around the food to rest her hand gently on Adora’s bicep. 

“You don’t have to eat this if you don’t want to. If you want to eat something else just let me know and I’ll take you to get it.” Adora takes a moment to think. Normally when she was with her friends while they were eating fast food she never had the urge to eat it. She was always thinking about how it would ruin her body and she’d disappoint Ms.Weaver or Lonnie in the process. But here’s Catra, telling her it’s okay, that she can indulge in the food if she wants to. 

Adora looks over the food again and takes a deep breath. The smells of fries fill her nose and her stomach growls. Catra's smile turns mischievous as she takes her hand off her arm and picks up a fry holding it in front of Adora’s face. 

“Only if you want to,” Catra says, her voice filled with anticipation. Adora looks from the fry to Catra. Her eyes are wide as she stares at Adora waiting to see what she’ll do. Adora takes a deep breath and takes the fry from Catra. She stares at it for a while before she looks back up at Catra, whose still staring at her intently. 

“I want to,” Adora says before putting the fry in her mouth. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now I really want Wendy's...Catra is still being dumb about some things, and I understand it's not smart for her to turn off Adora's phone but remember it's *Catra*. To me, this is a very her thing to do and it's my story so I'mma write it how I want :P
> 
> I'm so freaking excited about the next one!! I already have ideas on what they are gonna do but I would also love to hear you're predictions!!!
> 
> Let me know if there were any major mistakes! 
> 
> As always I'll post updates on Reddit, and I even got Twitter and a Tumblr now!  
> Twitter @supersimptrio  
> Reddit u/momoajojo  
> Tumblr @momoajojo


	6. learning to live

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra does whatever Adora wants

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited for y'all to read this!!! This is the longest chapter I've written for a story so far and I debated on shortening it but I didn't want to leave anything out :)
> 
> If there are any major mistakes please let me know!
> 
> Enjoy!

Adora puts the fry in her mouth and Catra feels a huge weight lift off of her. She wasn’t expecting to do this today but when she learned the rules Lonnie gave her, she knew she was going to make Adora break every single one of them. It’s dangerous and going against what Razz told her to do, but Adora needs to learn to live how she wants to. Catra will be here for her if something happens with Lonnie, which most likely will happen but she’s trying to not think about that right now. Right now she is thinking about how for the rest of the day, they will only do what Adora wants to do. 

They both start eating and Catra can’t help but stare as Adora devours a burger and then downs a box of nuggets with ease. Catra was worried she had been pushing too hard bringing her here but Adora never fought back. She did notice how Adora kept blushing at some of the touches Catra has been giving her, but she knows it’s because she’s not used to it and nothing more. She’s doing it to show her physical contact is okay - and maybe...just a little bit...Catra likes touching Adora. She thought she may have been doing too much so she decided to sit across from her while they ate. 

The more Adora ate the more relaxed she became - Catra could tell because she can literally see the tension leaving her body as time went on. She was so tense after the call with Lonnie, that Catra debated on saying any of that stuff in the car, but it seemed like the perfect moment. She also couldn’t let Adora go back to Lonnie without saying  _ something _ . 

“What else do you have planned?” Adora asks before finishing off her second burger and taking a sip from her soda. 

“Whatever you want to do,” Catra says before eating a couple more fries. Adora stops chewing for a moment and then leans back in her chair as she shallows. 

“I don’t know what I want to do.” Adora looks at her lap and fiddles with the burger wrapper. “Whatever you want to do is fine with me.” 

“No, you dummy.” Adora looks up at her confused. “We aren’t doing what  _ I  _ want, we are doing what  _ you _ want.” 

“Well, I want to do what you want to do,” Adora says and Catra rolls her eyes while resting her elbows on the table and crossing her arms. 

“And I want to do what you want to do.” Adora opens her mouth but then closes it. Catra takes that as a win. She grabs a nugget while leaning back in her chair. 

“Why are you doing this?” Adora asks and Catra is taken aback by the unexpected question. Adora’s still looking at her lap and playing with the wrapper. Catra clears her throat and shifts in her chair while putting the nugget back down. 

“What do you mean?” Adora stops playing with the wrapper and takes a deep breath. She rests her hands on the table but still keeps her gaze from Catra. 

“I mean why even bother doing this for me? You could’ve just dropped me back home and not deal with me anymore. I-” Adora takes a deep breath and meets Catra’s eyes. They are sad and it makes Catra want to jump over the table and hold her. “I don’t understand why you still want me around.” Adora’s expression doesn’t change and she keeps eye contact with Catra for a few more seconds before looking back at her hands. “We don’t know each other that well. I know we’ve been talking a lot over text but this is our first time hanging out...I honestly expected you to kick me out of the car after Lonnie called...I just don’t get it. Why are you still here?” 

“You thought I was going to kick you out?” Catra asks and now feeling completely shocked. She doesn’t understand the logic behind Adora’s thinking. She has no reason to be upset with Adora, but she has  _ many  _ reasons to be upset with Lonnie. Adora puts a hand back in her lap to continue playing with the wrapper while the other rubs the back of her neck.

“Kind of. I mean we’ve been trying to hang out for weeks and when we finally do you had to deal with me having a breakdown. I know you didn’t sign up for that or whatever this…” Adora gestures to all the food while still looking down. “...is that you’re doing. It just seems too good to be true that someone I barely know is doing this for me.” 

“You’re an idiot,” Catra says while chuckling softly and shaking her head. It all finally clicked for her. Adora has never had someone else do something for  _ her _ . She bets it wasn’t the first time Adora said  _ ‘Whatever you want to do is fine with me’ _ and that she has always done what other people want. She’s a people pleaser, but it goes deeper than that. She used to  _ always  _ giving but never taking. Catra’s going to change that. 

Adora looks up at her confused and seeming a little annoyed. Catra takes a deep breath and reaches a hand over the table to rest it on Adora’s arm. 

“I’m doing this because you’re a good person in a shitty situation. Because you don’t deserve to be treated this way by your girlfriend, or anyone, and you need to learn how to live for  _ yourself _ and not other people.” Catra moves her hand down Adora’s forearm to grab her hand. Adora sucks in a sharp breath and looks down at them. Catra somewhat expects her to pull away but instead, she turns her hand over to entwine their fingers together. Catra forces a blush down when Adora looks back at her with those damn blue eyes. 

Catra has tried her best to keep her feelings from growing but the more she got to know Adora the past few weeks the harder it got. She’s trying to focus on just helping Adora right now but it’s hard when she looks at her with her sparkling blue eyes and her sweet smile. Touching her also isn’t helping her feelings but she likes how their hands fit together. Adora’s hands are calloused but they feel nice against Catra’s. 

“Lonnie’s gonna be mad,” Adora says, breaking Catra out of her trance. Hearing  _ her  _ name definitely kills the mood for Catra. She clears her throat and pulls her arm away. Panic grows on Adora’s face for a second but when Catra doesn’t let go of her hand and pulls them up onto the table with her, Adora relaxes. 

“Yeah she will be, but don’t worry about her right now.” Adora snorts and lets out a dry laugh. 

“That’s all I’ve been doing for seven months.” Adora runs her other hand through her hair, messing up her stupid pouf a little, and causing a few strands to fall out of it. If they weren’t talking about Lonnie, Catra would get lost in how cute she looks. 

“Well don’t. At least while you’re with me.” Catra rubs her thumb against the back of Adora’s. “When you’re with me, don’t think about Lonnie, don’t think about work, don’t think about anything that worries you. Just relax.” 

Adora snorts and laughs like she did before, “I don’t think I’ve ever relaxed a day in my life.” Her expression turns a little sad again and her eyes fall to her lap but she doesn’t let go of Catra’s hand. She wants to obliterate whatever memories keep bringing that sad look into Adora’s eyes and replace them with happy ones. Which she plans on doing today. 

“It’s always nice to try something new.” Adora looks back at her looking wary like she still doesn’t believe this is happening. Catra smiles at her completely genuine and Adora smiles right back. She can’t help but get lost in her eyes and then realizes she has been staring for who knows how long but so has Adora. It doesn’t stop Catra from blushing at the realization and coughing to stifle it. The cough seems to cause Adora to realize she has been staring too because she’s definitely blushing now and lets go of Catra’s hand to put both of them in her lap to stare at them instead. 

“So-” Catra clears her throat after hearing it sound higher than normal, “now that we’ve had lunch, time for dessert?” 

Catra grabs a cookie and quickly takes a bite out of it. “I can’t remember the last time I had sugar,” Adora says and Catra chokes on her food. One because she can remember the last time she had sugar - it was last night - and because for a split second, she thought of a different type of sugar she could be giving her right now. Adora grabs a Frosty and looks at Catra worried as she tries to stifle a cough. “You okay?” 

“Yeah,” Catra says before coughing again. “Just didn’t realize how seriously you took being a jock.” 

“How many times do I have to tell you, I’m not a jock,” Adora says while rolling her eyes, but smiling fondly. Catra loves when she does that. She then takes a scoop out of the somewhat melted Frosty and moans when she closes her mouth around the spoon. Catra’s entire body stills as it echoes in her head. “God, I’m really questioning my life choices right now. I can’t believe I’ve gone my most of life without eating stuff like this” 

Catra can’t respond, the sound of Adora’s moan is still very prominent in her mind. Adora gets another scoop and before she can put it in her mouth again Catra shot up into a standing position startling Adora. “I have to use the bathroom,” Catra announces but doesn’t move and Adora stares at her quizzically for a second before starting to put the spoon back in her mouth. Catra pivots on her heels and heads toward the bathroom. “I’ll be right back.” 

“Okay,” Adora says before putting the spoon in her mouth and moaning again - it wasn’t as loud as before, but definitely still a moan. Catra picks up in speed and when she opens the bathroom to find that she is alone, she sighs in relief. She rests her hands on the countertop and stares at herself in the mirror. Face burning red and she wonders if she looked like that before or after she left the table. Catra turns on the water and splashes her face a few times. 

“Come on, Catra. Stop being so gay for one fucking day and just help her,” Catra says to herself. She looks in the mirror and her cheeks are still red, she splashes more water on herself. She rechecks, and the blush has subsided enough to be hopefully unnoticeable. She pats her face dry, avoiding making it redder by rubbing it. She looks back in the mirror and points at herself. “Keep it in your fucking pants, she’s vulnerable right now so just stop thinking about it.” 

As if to say ‘screw you’ to herself the moan replays in her mind and she groans while shoving her fingers into her short hair. “Gotta think about something else…” Catra racks her brain about anything besides Adora that will turn her off, and keep her damn libido at bay. Then she finds something. She looks herself in the eye through the mirror and takes a deep breath. 

“Hordak.” 

She doesn’t really know much about him except that he is dating Entrapta and also obsessed with science. Any man would make her turned off anyway since she is a raging lesbian, but there’s something about him that just bugs her. She smiles triumphantly at her new trick when the blush subsides and takes another deep breath before going back out. 

When she returns to the table Adora is already halfway done with her Frosty and when she takes her next spoonful she is thankfully no longer moaning. When Adora sees Catra coming back she instantly perks up and beams at her.

_ Hordak _ . 

Catra smiles back at her and sits down to continue eating her cookie. After a while, they barely make a dent in all the desserts before they both start slowing down. They both agree that they can’t eat anymore and decide to pack up. Catra starts balling up the empty wrappers and fry containers while Adora grabs the empty dessert packages. They throw out their trash and then Adora asks an employee for a take-out bag. 

Adora packs the bags even though Catra argued she would do it but Adora said she  _ wanted _ to so Catra let her. They walk back to the car, placing the bag in the backseat. Once they are both buckled in the front seats Catra asks, “What do you want to do now?” 

Adora takes a deep breath and furrows her brows while putting a finger to her chin. Catra smiles at how cute she looks and then realizes she’s staring. 

_ Hordak _ . 

Catra thinks she’s probably going to be thinking about Hordak a lot today. Adora gasps, her eyes now lit up and looking at Catra with a huge smile on her face. 

_ Hordak _ . 

\---

“I thought you said you weren’t a jock?” Catra teases while closing the door to the batting cage for Adora. She rolls her eyes while putting on a helmet and picking up a bat. 

“I’m not. It’s just been a while since I’ve played baseball and I figured we couldn’t get a game together today so this is the next best thing.” Adora presses the button to start the machine and steps next to the plate holding the bat up. She took off her button-up shirt leaving her in just a tank top. Catra was wrong in thinking the short sleeve had Adora’s arm on display, the tank top is something  _ else. _ Her arms and back flex as she tightens the grip on the bat. 

_ Hordak. _

A ball comes flying at Adora. She hits it but it shoots straight to the ground. She looks back at Catra bashfully. “Told you it’s been a while.” Catra doesn’t say anything, she’s too focused on not focusing on how Adora’s muscles are moving. Instead, she gives her a quick tight smile before Adora turns back around just in time for the next ball to shoot out. She hits it perfectly, sending it to the back net. “God I missed this.” 

Catra wants to ask her why she ever stopped but decides to keep it to herself. After a few more hits Catra had to turn around because of how difficult it was for her to not look at Adora’s muscles - that doesn’t mean she still didn’t steal glances here and there though. 

Adora goes two more rounds with the machine until she startles Catra by tapping her shoulder through the cage door. She turns around to see Adora looking at her with a dopey smile plastered on her face, which is now a little red and has some hair sticking to her forehead past the helmet. 

_ Hordak _ . 

“Wanna try it?” Adora asks, sounding happier than Catra has ever heard her. She nods, not trusting herself to open her mouth at the moment. Adora beams at her while opening the door. She hands her a helmet and a shorter bat to Catra. She puts on the helmet and stands by the plate trying to replicate how Adora was standing before. “Ready?” 

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Catra is far from ready. She has never done this before, she’s never even held a bat before today, but Adora looked so happy when she agreed. The machine turns on and a ball comes flying at her. She steps back with a yelp. Adora laughs causing her to blush and Catra tries to put on an angry face before turning to Adora. “Shut up. That thing is trying to kill me!” 

“It’s not, I promise. Just stand a little farther away from the plate if you’re gonna be a scardey cat,” Adora teases. 

“I am  _ not _ scared!” Catra says putting a hand on her hip and pointing the bat at her. Adora puts her hands up in surrender. The machine goes off again sending another ball, Catra lets out another yelp and runs to the wall. She was nowhere near the ball but she still got freaked out by hearing the machine going off. 

“You sure about that?” Adora says while bending over clutching at her stomach as she laughs. Catra’s face is burning and if it was anyone else she would throw the bat at them before storming out. But since this is Adora and Catra likes hearing her laugh, she stays. Catra moves back to the plate as it sends another ball. She flinches as it zips past her but keeps walking up to the plate. She positions herself the same way Adora had been and waits for the ball. The machine goes off, and when the ball gets close enough she closes her eyes and swings. She missed. 

Catra expects to hear laughing but there isn’t any. She glances back at Adora who shoots her two thumbs up and an encouraging smile. 

_ Hordak. _

Catra turns back towards the machine and it sends another ball. She swings and misses. She groans and has to stop herself from throwing the bat towards the machine. The buzzer goes off indicating that the stop button was pressed. Catra starts to turn but is stopped when she feels strong hands on her waist. 

_ Hordak. _

“You’re standing all wrong.” Adora uses her hands that are holding Catra’s waist to reposition her stance. 

_ Hordak. Hordak. _

Adora then moves a hand down her thigh to behind her knee. “Bend your knees a little bit.” She does. “Yeah, just like that.” 

_ Hordak. Hordak. Hordak. _

Adora moves her hands to Catra’s shoulders, “Hold the bat up again.” Catra complies and then Adora slides her hands to either of her elbows. “You’re sticking both of them out when this one should be closer to your chest...and this one should point out this way. Also, you need to hold the bat like this.” 

After repositioning her elbows, Adora steps closer causing their bodies to be flush together and puts her hands over Catra’s on the bat. 

_ Hordak. Hordak. Hordak. Hordak.  _

“Move them closer together, and then position the bat like this.” With Adora being so close she is now talking right next to Catra’s ear and it sends shivers down her spine. Adora then forcefully yet so gently moves Catra’s hands and she stifles a groan threatening to escape at feeling Adora’s strong hands move her around like this. 

_ Hordak. Hordak. Hordak. Hordak. Hordak.  _

“Good. Now stay in that position.” Adora steps away and circles around Catra staring at her intently while also looking her up and down. 

_ HORDAK! _

Catra’s starting to internally freak out. Her little trick is starting to not work as well. She’s been able to keep her blush down so far but now it’s starting to get extremely difficult. 

Adora smiles and gives her two thumbs up. “Perfect.” Adora moves behind Catra again to where the button to start the machine is. “Now, make sure to keep your eye on the ball.” 

Catra nods her head and Adora pushes the button bringing the machine back to life. The ball comes flying at her, she makes sure to keep her eye on it as she swings at it. She nicks it. The buzzer goes off indicating the machine has stopped again. “Ok, now we need to fix your swing. Go back to the position,” Adora commands but her voice is soft. Catra stifles a whine at the words and wishes Adora was saying that to her in a  _ very _ different situation. Catra moves the bat back to how Adora showed her. Adora moves behind Catra, pressing their bodies together again, and places her arms over Catra’s. 

_ HORDAK! HORDAK! _

“Now make sure to keep it level when you swing it like this.” Adora wraps her hands around Catra’s and slowly swings the bat in front of them. She’s trying her best to focus on what Adora is showing her and not the fact that she can now  _ feel _ Adora’s muscles moving and flexing against her arms. 

_ HORDAK! HORDAK!  _ **_HORDAK!_ **

She’s very grateful that Adora is behind her because her blush is definitely starting to pink up her cheeks. 

“Think you can do it now?” Adora is speaking into her ear again and Catra probably would have dropped the bat if Adora wasn’t helping her hold it. Catra swallows the lump in her throat and takes a deep breath. 

“We’ll see,” Catra says her voice shaking a little bit and she hopes that Adora doesn’t notice. Adora laughs through her nose, it’s warm against Catra neck and she covers up the small moan that almost escaped her mouth with a cough. 

**_HORDAK! HORDAK! HORDAK!_ **

It’s definitely not working anymore. Her face is burning and she needs to get it under control before she has to face Adora again. 

Adora backs away and Catra feels like she can breathe again but also misses the feeling of the taller woman against her. She presses the button and a few seconds later the ball comes flying at Catra. She keeps her eyes on it and swings the bat just like Adora showed her. There’s a loud noise and Catra sees the ball flying towards the back wall. “I did it! I did it! Did you see?! I hit the-” Catra turns to look at Adora while pointing in the direction of the ball and jumping giddily. Adora giggles and Catra realizes what she just did and clears her throat while putting a hand on her waist and resting the bat on her shoulder. “I mean, whatever, I guess that was cool.” 

Adora laughs and shakes her head. “Do you want to keep going?” Adora asks, hovering her hand over the stop button while a ball whizzes past Catra. She doesn’t flinch this time. 

“Why not? It’s not so bad I guess.” Catra shrugs before going back into the position Adora put her in before. She ends up missing a few here and there but she still hits most of them. With each hit, she feels the sexual frustration in her seeping out. She didn’t realize how worked up she had gotten and this really helped her calm down. When Catra hits the last ball she turns around to put the bat back and takes off the helmet, now feeling a lot better than before she started. 

“You done?” Adora asks, taking off her helmet as well and putting it next to Catra’s. Their arms brush together and Catra doesn’t feel like she is going to crawl out of her skin anymore. 

“Yeah. My arms are killing me.” Catra isn’t lying. She stretches them out and can hear them cursing at her for putting them through that. She questions how Adora did that multiple times but she gets her answer when she glances back at her toned arms. She internally congratulates herself for being able to look at them again without turning into a tomato. 

“You didn’t have to hit all of them, you could’ve told me to stop the machine,” Adora says sounding guilty as if she did something wrong. Catra scoffs while looking up at her. 

“I didn’t tell you to stop it because I  _ wanted _ to keep hitting them.” Adora rubs the back of her neck and gives her a weak smile. Adora seems to understand why Catra emphasized ‘wanted’. She’s glad Adora is kind of starting to get it but Catra understands it’s going to be a while until it comes naturally for her. “What next?” 

Adora sighs while grabbing her shirt but doesn’t put it back  _ on _ . Catra is really glad the batting cage helped her calm down because she didn’t know how much longer she could have handled Adora wearing a tank top with how worked up she was. Adora walks out of the cage and goes to a vending machine to get a bottle of vitamin water, Catra follows and gets one as well before chugging about half it. Adora plays with the cap in her hand for a moment, “Are you sure you don’t want to do anything?” Oh, there are plenty of things Catra wants to do with Adora, but none that Adora would be comfortable with, especially since she has a girlfriend and doesn’t want her like how Catra wants her.

“Like I said Adora, I want to do anything you want to do.” Adora blushes and twists the cap back on the bottle. They walk out of the building, Adora tells the employees at the front desk to have a great day while Catra just walks right past them. They get in the car and Adora’s leg is shaking which is making the entire car shake. “This isn’t supposed to make you nervous. Just think about something you want to do.” 

“Easier said than done,” Adora says while laughing nervously, her leg doesn’t stop. Catra shakes her head while placing her hand on Adora’s knee, it stills instantly. Catra looks at Adora who is looking at her with wide eyes. 

“What is something you have wanted to do for a while but always thought you never had the time, or...or someone wouldn’t like it if you did it.” Adora’s expression falls and then she takes a deep breath before her brows knit together as she goes deep into thought. 

Catra takes her hand off Adora’s leg and pulls out her phone. She shoots a text to Entrapta asking her for a picture of Hordak. Simply thinking of him wasn’t working as well as she thought it would, maybe having something to look at would be more effective. A few moments later Entrapta sends her about twenty photos of Hordak. If she scrolled through them fast enough it would look as if he was turning his head left and right.

**[Catra]** i just needed one but thx

**[Entrapta]** You did not tell me what was necessary for the photo so to be safe I took a picture from every side. I am glad this was satisfactory for you.

Catra smiles at her phone. She’s known Entrapta almost as long as she’s known Scorpia. Catra met her through Scorpia, and soon after they were named the ‘Super Pal Trio’. Catra fought the name but she was the only one who didn’t like it so it stuck. Entrapta is a little strange sometimes but that’s what she likes about her. 

“Horses,” Adora says after a while. Catra puts her phone away after quickly looking at the Hordak pictures again. She looks over at Adora a little confused as to what she means. “I want to go see horses.” 

\---

“Are you sure you don’t want to ride?” Catra asks as Adora opens the gate to one of the stables to a light brown horse with a dark brown mane and tail. She had said when she met the couple Netossa and Spinerella that she wouldn’t be riding today. Catra knows it’s been a while since she’s done it, and is surprised she doesn’t want to. 

“I’m sure, my gear is in storage and I also think I’ve grown out of it.” Adora starts petting the horse’s mane and he huffs at her causing the blonde to giggle. “Remember me, Swifty? I’m sorry it’s been a while.” 

“What did you hit a growth spurt since you last rode?” Catra can’t help but laugh a little. It’s not that funny but Adora rolled her eyes again while smiling. Catra really does love seeing her do that. 

“No, I stopped growing sometime during my sophomore year of college, but I know I’ve gained more muscle since I last rode so all my gear would be too tight which is not fun to ride in.” Catra eyes Adora up and down for probably the millionth time today. Thankfully she is wearing her button-up again - even though Catra lowkey wishes she kept it off - so Catra has been able to keep her thoughts at bay. Adora grabs a brush and starts grooming the horse. Catra feels her mouth go dry seeing the muscles in her arms flex with each stroke. 

Catra gets her phone and scrolls through all of the Hordak pictures again. It quiets her libido before it gets too bad,  _ again _ . “Got somewhere to be?” Adora asks looking over her shoulder to Catra. She locks the phone and puts it back in her pocket, blushing a little. From Adora’s tone of voice, she was joking but Catra can see the worry in her eyes at the thought that Catra might actually need or want to leave.

“Just checking my messages.” Adora sighs in relief before smiling at Catra, she smiles back. Adora turns back to the horse to continue brushing and once again Catra is mesmerized by the muscles. The flirt in her is awakening and she can’t stop herself from saying- “I’m all yours today, Princess.” 

Adora makes an audible choking sound which then turns into a cough. She doesn’t look at Catra so she can’t tell if she is just taken aback or uncomfortable. Catra quickly looks at the Hordak pictures again for safe measures. She started calling her ‘Princess’ because of all the stories about how Princesses lived such controlled lives, they had no say in what they wanted. It reminded her of Adora. When she first said it and Adora blushed but didn’t say anything, Catra took it as a sign she didn’t mind the name. 

“How long do you expect to do stuff today?” Adora asks while moving the brush from the horse’s mane to the rest of their body. Catra laughs at how much of an idiot she’s being about this. 

“For as long as you  _ want _ to do stuff.” Adora stops brushing and looks back at Catra. She can’t read her expression. 

“Well, I don’t  _ want _ to keep you all day if you have other things to do.” Adora crosses her arms but not in a defiant way, it’s more like she is protecting herself from something. Catra sighs while walking past the gate that was protecting her - it’s not that she doesn’t like horses, she’s just never met one before and is terrified right now - to put a hand on Adora’s forearm. 

“I don’t work today, and I finished all my current commissions. I have nowhere else to be, and I have nowhere else I  _ want _ to be besides hanging out with you today.” Catra normally isn’t this mushy but she needs to say this stuff so Adora can understand everything is okay. Catra can see tears start in Adora’s eyes, and she has a small smile on her lips. Adora unfolds her arms and moves forward for a second but stops herself. Then she opens her mouth and quickly closes it. 

“What?” Catra asks, and Adora blushes slightly while rubbing the back of her neck. 

“Well I was wondering...but it’s stupid, Scorpia said you like personal space so I don’t want to make you uncomfortable-” 

“Adora.” Catra cuts off the ramble before it gets too crazy. She’s known Scorpia long enough to understand when someone is about to. Adora drops her hands to her sides balling one into a fist and the other gripping the brush so tight Catra can see it shaking. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.

“Can...can I hug you?” Adora winces as if she is preparing for an attack. She ignores the thought trying to figure out why she is so afraid to ask and swallows the lump in her throat. 

“Of course you can dummy,” Catra says, trying to keep her voice as even as possible. Adora’s eyes shoot open and her lips twitch up for a second. 

“Really?! B-but Scorpia-” 

“I need personal space from Scorpia because she has been invading mine for  _ years _ and she can be a lot sometimes. I’ve also never really liked when people touch me or get too close, but I-” Catra stops herself from almost saying, ‘I like you’. Yes, she has been mushy today but she can’t admit she  _ likes _ Adora. She can barely admit to people that Scorpia is her best friend. She doesn’t really like hugs in general anyway, but after feeling Adora wrap around her at the batting cages, she wants to know how it feels for Adora to actually hold her. Adora seems to panic for a second at Catra stopping herself and she realizes how long she hasn’t been talking for. “If you want to hug me you can.” 

“Are you sure?” There is hope in Adora’s eyes, but the tone of her voice tells Catra that she is still scared of something. Catra laughs and nods her head. Adora’s eyes light up and she flashes her a dorky grin that makes Catra feel butterflies in her stomach. 

_ Hordak. _

Adora drops the brush on the ground and moves her arms to wrap around Catra’s lower back and shoving her face into the crook of her neck. Catra melts into the embrace. It isn’t rib-crushing like Scorpia’s, she’s holding her tight but it feels safe having Adora surround her like this. She wraps her arms around the taller girl’s shoulders and tries her best to not think about how the muscles feel under her hands. 

_ Hordak. Hordak. _

Adora lets out a deep sigh and Catra can feel the tension leaving her shoulders. Adora tightens her grip around Catra causing her to move closer and making their bodies be flush together. Catra covers the whine coming out of her with a groan but that seemed to be the wrong thing to do. Adora freezes for a second before pulling away and moving her hands onto Catra’s hips. She pushes herself a few inches away but doesn’t move her hands. 

“I’m sorry! It just felt…” Adora looks down at the floor and still doesn’t move her hands from Catra, now fiddling her belt loops nervously. The broken expression on Adora’s face is distracting her enough to not think about her strong hands holding her hips. Catra rests her hands on Adora’s forearms and when Adora glances up at her she flashes her a reassuring smile before Adora looks back down at the ground. “It felt nice...Hugging you I mean.” 

Catra feels herself blush and is grateful that Adora is still looking at the ground so she can’t see it. She reminds herself that even though it may not be a great relationship, Adora is still  _ in  _ one. But she’s in trouble and needs help, that’s why they are doing this, why they are here. Catra is  _ helping _ her. She can’t indulge in Adora’s touches for her own benefit, and can’t think Adora’s words mean more than she wants them to. 

“Yeah, I’m pretty awesome in every aspect,” Catra says while forcing a smug grin. Adora laughs while rolling her eyes and her grip on Catra’s hips relaxes but doesn’t move away. She has stopped messing with her belt loops though. Adora looks up at Catra seeming relieved and hopeful again.

“Can I do it again?” Adora asks so quietly Catra almost missed it. 

“Only if you want to.” 

“I want to,” Adora says before pulling Catra back into a hug. Once again Catra melts into the safe feeling Adora gives her. She wraps her arms around Adora, and they stay that way for many moments until something pushes against their sides. Catra squeaks in surprise and Adora laughs as she lets go of Catra to put both hands on the horse’s nose and put her forehead against him. 

“I’m sorry Swift Wind, I didn’t mean to ignore you.” Adora reaches to the ground and picks up the brush to continue grooming him. Catra now feeling incredibly cold without Adora touching her walks out of the stable, where it’s safe, and just watches. Adora has a sweet smile on her face and giggles whenever Swift Wind huffs at her. 

“What’s next?” Catra asks. 

\---

Catra rolls her eyes as they sit in their seats for the movie. Adora said she hadn’t been to one in a while. She said she used to go with Bow and Glimmer all the time but that was about a year ago. Catra clenched her jaw to keep herself from screaming when she compared that time frame with how long she and Lonnie have been dating. 

Catra had made sure to get the biggest bucket of popcorn they offered and got extra butter on it. She also got her favorite candy and told Adora to get what she likes. Adora then proceeded to tell her that she’s never tried any of it, except Twizzlers. Catra of course bought her Twizzlers and a few other options. She isn’t sure what Adora would like so she made sure to get a mix of everything. She’s grateful that she finished all her commissions before this so she can afford to do all these things for her. 

After opening every item of candy they got, Catra shoves a hand full of popcorn into her mouth. “Go ahead and eat what you want,” Catra says after swallowing and taking some pieces of candy for herself. 

“I don’t know where to start.” Adora hovers her hands over the collection of candy and hesitates every now and then. Catra then grabs the bag of Sour Patch Kids and holds it closer to Adora. 

“Here, these are my favorites.” Adora looks to Catra and then the bag. She takes one out and puts it in her mouth. Her face instantly contorts from the sour and then relaxes as she starts to chew on it more. Adora reaches her hand in and takes out a few more. Catra giggles when she notices that Adora is only eating one at a time and that her face contorts the same way each time she puts a new one in her mouth.

The theater lights dim as the previews come on. Catra is happy to do whatever Adora wants but she is dreading this right now. Adora had picked some stupid rom-com that Catra couldn’t even care to remember the name off. 

Thirty minutes into the movie and Adora has already laughed at every stupid, corny joke they make. Catra catches herself staring but Adora seems too preoccupied watching the movie and trying all the candy to notice. For the next hour, Catra spends her time watching Adora laugh, smile fondly, and tear up a little when the couple gets together in the end. 

They leave the theater to find that the sun has set and the stars are out. Adora stops on the sidewalk and leans her head back looking up at the sky in awe. “It’s beautiful,” Adora says while her eyes shoot around the sky. 

“Yeah,” Catra says breathlessly while still staring at Adora. She doesn’t notice, still fixated on the sky above her, and then Catra gets an idea. “I want to take you somewhere.” 

Adora looks away from the sky to meet Catra’s eyes. She looks a little surprised but also very intrigued. A small smirk grows on her face, “I thought this day was all about what  _ I  _ wanted.” Catra rolls her eyes and grabs Adora’s hand to pull her to the car. 

“It is, but I think you’ll like this. When we get there, if you don’t  _ want  _ to stay then we can leave.” Catra reaches the car and reluctantly lets go of Adora’s hand to get into the driver seat. Adora gets in the car and eyes Catra, making her skin feel like it’s on fire. She takes a deep breath and buckles her seat belt before turning back to Catra her smirk bigger than before. 

“Take me away, Catra.” She quickly turns her head away to keep Adora from seeing her blush. She tries to stop it but the smirk on Adora’s face and the words made her go a little crazy inside. Catra is sure that Adora has no idea what she just did to her. She clears her throat and pulls out of the parking lot. 

\---

“Are you sure about this?” Adora asks after Catra jumps the fence. She took them to one of her favorite spots. An abandoned house that was halfway through being built but the owner ran out of money and had to stop construction. It’s been years and no one has bought the property yet. She found it one night when she was looking for a place to find some inspiration and comes here when she needs it. It also so happens to be the best place to stargaze. 

“I’m sure, I come here all the time.” That doesn’t seem to ease Adora. “If we get caught,  _ which we won’t _ , I’ll say I kidnapped you and you’ll be set free.” 

Adora laughs and Catra can see her relax but she still seems nervous. “I definitely don’t want you to get arrested.” Adora sighs and eyes the fence before meeting Catra’s gaze again. 

“I promise you, no one comes around here. I won’t force you to do it if you don’t want to, but I think you’d really like it.” Catra smiles at her and gives her a pleading look. Adora takes a deep breath still seeming anxious but when she smiles at Catra it’s genuine. 

Adora hops the fence with ease and lands next to her huffing a little. Catra spins on her heels to walk across the property before focusing too much on how  _ hot _ that just was. When she finds the spot under the opening in the trees she stops walking and turns to Adora. She looks around with her eyebrows furrowed together obviously trying to figure out what Catra wanted to show her. 

“Look up, dummy.” Adora does and her jaw drops. Catra looks up as well and feels her breath being taken away like it does every time she comes here. The property is far enough away from the city to not be affected by light pollution so the sky is crystal clear tonight, making it easier to see all the stars. 

“Catra…” She looks back at Adora who still has her head leaned back, but she also notices tears falling out of her eyes. For a second Catra thinks she did something wrong but when Adora looks at her with a warm smile she relaxes. “Thank you.” 

“It’s no biggie,” Catra says trying to sound like Adora’s expression and words didn’t just make her legs go limp as she fights the blush threatening to heat her face. “I come here a lot, and you seemed to like the stars so-” 

“No. I mean  _ thank you _ .” Adora moves closer and holds Catra’s hands in hers. Making her lose the fight with the blush. She’s lost in Adora’s ocean of blue staring at her with so much fondness it makes her want to cry. “Thank you for today, I’ve never felt so relaxed in my life. Thank you for helping me figure this out, even though I still don’t quite understand everything…” 

Adora laughs and sniffs a little. Without thinking Catra moves one of her hands from Adora’s to rest it against her cheek and uses her thumb to wipe away a tear. 

“I’m really happy I met you Catra...There’s something else I know I want…” Adora takes a deep breath, never taking her eyes away from Catra’s. “I want to be your friend. I want you in my life.” 

The words hit Catra harder than she thought they would. She grew up dealing with people not wanting her, and even after Razz took her in she still struggled to find friends. It wasn’t until she met Scorpia and Entrapta that she felt wanted by someone other than Razz. She’s never had a girlfriend before, always just flings or someone to fuck to take the edge off when it’s been a while. But here’s Adora, someone she’s just met, telling her she wants her - not the way Catra wishes but still - and she wants to be her friend. 

“I want to be your friend too,” Catra says softly and can feel the tears threatening to leave her eyes but thankfully Adora pulls her into a hug. She keeps herself from crying and doesn’t hesitate to hug Adora back. She’s so relieved to know she didn’t push Adora too far today, and that she didn’t make her uncomfortable. She was able to help her, and that’s all Catra wants to do. 

They stay like that for a while until Adora pulls away and sits down on the grass. She grabs Catra’s hand and pulls at her making the brunette sit next to her. She then lays down and Catra follows, both of them still holding hands as they stare up at the stars together. 

Catra doesn’t know how long they lay there for but at some point her phone buzzes. She opens it to find a text from Scorpia. 

**[Scorpia]** Are you guys okay? It’s getting late and I’m starting to worry.

Catra then notices the time to see it’s well past 10 pm. She completely forgot about that rule, she forgot about the time, she forgot about Lonnie, she was just enjoying her time with Adora. She was so lost in helping Adora relax and do what she wants...Her hand involuntarily tightens around Adora’s causing the blonde to stir next to her. “You okay?” Catra lets go and sits up to hold her phone in both hands to text Scorpia back. 

**[Catra]** yeh were fine   
**[Catra]** didnt realize the time. srry

**[Scorpia]** It’s okay! Just wanted to make sure you were okay. Do you know what time you’ll be home? 

Catra takes a deep breath, not wanting to take Adora away from this day, but knows she has to. “It’s Scorpia. She’s just checking on us since it’s so late.” Adora shoots up her breathing quickening. 

“What time is it?” Her voice is shaking and it hurts Catra to hear it like that. Adora had been so happy all day and now it’s all ruined. 

“It’s almost midnight,” Catra says her voice quiet but she knows Adora hears her because she can see the girl’s entire body go still. Catra looks up to see Adora’s eyes wide with fear, just like they were when Lonnie called for her the night they met. She’s looking off to the side now, and her chest is rising rapidly with her breathing. Catra takes her hand again, snapping her out of her thoughts and looking at her. The fear is still prominent in her face but she seems to relax a little when their eyes met. “Do you want me to take you home?” 

Adora swallows loudly and opens her mouth but nothing comes out except her shaky breaths. Catra puts her other hand on Adora’s chest and starts taking deep breaths. Adora grabs her wrist holding onto it as if she is going to die if she doesn’t. After a few moments, she starts breathing like Catra and when she seems to have calmed down her grip on Catra loosens but doesn’t leave. 

Adora nods her head and Catra stands. She had to move her hand from Adora’s chest but she still held onto her other hand. She helps Adora stand and walks her off the property, past the fence to the car. She leads Adora into the passenger seat but when she sits down she doesn’t move. All-day whenever Adora has gotten in the car she would buckle her seat belt a few seconds after, but this time she just stares forward her hands in her lap. 

Catra grabs the seatbelt and leans over Adora to buckle it. The blonde whispers something that sounds like a ‘thanks’. Catra closes the passenger door as gently as she can. She then gets into the driver’s seat and pulls Adora’s phone out of her bra to power it on. When it comes to life her phone blows up with texts and missed call notifications from Lonnie. Catra quickly silences it so now it’s just vibrating and then slowly takes Adora’s hand to press her thumb against the home button. It unlocks and Catra finds her home address saved into the GPS app. She plugs it into her own phone and places Adora’s in the cup holder after the buzzing stops. 

Adora doesn’t move to pick it up, she doesn’t blink... _ she isn’t blinking _ . For a second Catra is worried she isn’t breathing and grabs her hand again. Adora takes in a sharp shaky breath and closes her eyes while holding onto Catra’s hand so tight, she’s afraid Adora is going to break it. She takes a deep breath, and lets go of Catra’s hand but doesn’t open her eyes. 

Catra turns back to face the steering wheel and texts Scorpia back. 

**[Catra]** im taking her home now   
**[Catra]** not sure when ill be back   
**[Catra]** don’t go to sleep yet until i get home

Catra isn’t sure what’s going to happen tonight but she isn’t going to leave Adora alone until she knows she’s safe. If something happens she might need Scorpia’s help. 

**[Scorpia]** Sure thing wildcat! Be safe!

Catra almost laughs at the text. She doesn’t. Her anger and anxiety taking over her entire body. She puts her phone down and starts following the directions to Adora’s house. She doesn’t know what she’s going to do when they get there but she will be there for Adora. No matter what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)
> 
> It took me a WHILE to think of something for Catra to think of to keep her horniest at bay. But Adora is just too damn hot that it didn't work ;)
> 
> What do you think is gonna happen when Adora gets home? Will Catra go in with her? Will Adora even have the strength to go inside?
> 
> Find me here:  
> Twitter @supersimptrio  
> Reddit u/momoajojo  
> Tumblr @momoajojo


	7. leaving

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora confronts Lonnie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ****CW: minor VERY minor physical abuse****
> 
> It's finally here! Adora stands up to Lonnie! I hope you all enjoy! 
> 
> Thank you so much to Tara for beta-reading this!

Adora was having a great day, no- the best day, probably the best day of her entire life. When she ate the fry she thought she would be disgusted since the last time she had one was so long ago, but her mouth just watered for more. Lonnie has been keeping her on a strict diet for many months now. At the start, Adora felt like she was starving most of the day but learned how to live with it. Eating that fry woke a beast in her that needed to be filled. Which she did, with two burgers, a box of nuggets, and an entire Frosty. 

She had stopped worrying about Lonnie, and what she would do or how she would react when the time came for Adora to go back home. She stopped thinking about how Ms. Weaver would be disappointed if she saw her doing what she was doing. She just stopped thinking, except for what she wanted. It was hard at first but Catra really helped her. Every time she looked into her mismatched eyes she felt some type of warmth that made her feel...Adora isn’t quite sure what but it felt good. 

All-day Catra never complained about where Adora wanted to go and even seemed to be enjoying herself. Except maybe when they went to see Swift Wind, she seemed a little freaked out by him. But they hugged and everything was fine. It felt amazing holding Catra like that, having her so close. Lonnie doesn’t like hugs, says she is claustrophobic and can’t handle having someone surround her like that. Catra seemed to enjoy it, and even though she said it was fine, Adora still held herself back many times throughout the day from hugging her again. 

When Catra had taken her to the abandoned property to see the stars, she couldn’t hold back anymore. She had to- no _wanted_ to hug her more than anything. Then everything came crashing down when Catra asked her if she wanted to go home. She didn’t but she knew she had to. She had been gone for almost twelve hours and she needed to confront Lonnie sooner or later. She was just hoping later never actually happened. 

Adora didn’t fully register getting into the car, or the drive to her house. Her mind’s too busy going through her memories with Lonnie and how she wanted to say something or do something but never did because she knew she’d upset Lonnie. How Lonnie has been controlling everything she has been doing for months now, and she _let_ it happen. Bow and Glimmer even saw something was wrong but she didn’t want to believe them. Something felt familiar about Lonnie that she liked, that she missed and she wanted to keep that around. 

The more she thinks about it the colder she feels. She can’t exactly describe how it makes her feel besides that but she doesn’t want to feel that again. It’s nothing like the feeling Catra gives her. The one that Catra gives her makes her feel warm, and light, almost like she’s floating. Yet there’s still a part of her that wants to stay with her. Some part of her still believes that Lonnie cares for her. That all of this...everything Lonnie has put her through is because she cares. Because Lonnie loves her...right?

She was afraid to tell Catra she wanted her in her life to be friends. She was afraid that Catra wouldn’t want her, or like her after the day they had. That she didn’t want to deal with Adora’s crap anymore, but she said she wanted it too. Adora felt like she was flying when Catra said that and hugged her so tight while she tried - and failed - to stop crying.

Adora would cry now if she wasn’t feeling completely and utterly numb. She can see the lights of the buildings and cars passing by her, but that’s about it. Everything else is blank, and she doesn’t know how much time passes until the car stops moving. 

“We’re here,” Catra says. Her voice is quiet and hesitant like she is worried if she speaks any louder Adora will break like glass. Adora looks outside the window to see her house- _Lonnie’s_ house. What used to feel like home now feels like a prison. She knows Lonnie is home because her car is in the driveway. The lights are on, and as always the blinds are shut so Adora can’t see if she is in the living room or not. Adora looks back at her lap and takes her phone out of the cupholder. She puts it in her pocket not bothering to read the hundreds of messages left her. “Do you want me to come with you?” 

Adora looks up at Catra, her hands are still holding on to the steering wheel, her knuckles as white as a ghost. Her face is calm except for a small crease between her eyebrows. She’s looking at Adora tenderly and she just wishes she could reverse time and relive this day over and over again. She wants nothing more than to drive off with Catra and never come back. But she knows she needs to talk to Lonnie, she needs to say her side and _finally_ stands up for herself. Adora’s not sure if she can do it, but she does know that she needs to do it alone. 

“No,” Adora says her voice quieter than she meant. Catra’s shoulders fall a little but her expression doesn’t change. Adora reaches out a hand to rest on Catra’s arm. “I need-I want to do this alone. Thank you for today, and for helping me, but I need to go the rest of the way by myself.” 

“Okay.” Catra’s face hardens but Adora can tell it’s not towards her. Catra relaxes the arm Adora is touching and grabs her hand. “Whatever you want, remember?” 

Adora lets out a sharp laugh through her nose and a smile threatens to perk up the corners of her mouth but it doesn’t happen. She’s freaking out too much to actually be able to laugh or smile right now.

“I remember.” Adora squeezes her hand before letting go and sitting up to grab the door handle. She turns back to Catra. “I’ll text you if anything happens.” 

“Promise?” Catra’s voice is quiet and shaking a little. Adora can’t tell if it’s from anger or if she’s trying not to cry. 

“I promise.” Catra smiles a small smile at Adora before she turns away and opens the door. 

She stares at the front door as she shuts the car door and walks up the pathway to it. She doesn’t hear Catra pull away, she doesn’t hear _anything_ besides her heart pounding in her ears. She’s sure if she turns around right now Catra will be gone, and she understands. This is too much for new friends to deal with. It’s too much for _Adora_ to deal with, but she knows she has to.

Adora pulls her keys out of her pocket and hesitates before putting them into the lock and opening the door. When it’s closed she hears stomping coming from the hallway and a few seconds later Lonnie is standing in front of her, completely enraged. The cold feeling is back and she’s not sure if it’s making her want to throw up or scream, maybe both. She feels an ache grow in her chest, it wants to warm feeling from Catra back. 

“What the _fuck_ , Adora?!” Lonnie starts stomping towards her and Adora instantly starts to shrink. She tries her best to stand tall but she can’t. “Where the fuck have you been? I have been calling you since the second check-in and _nothing_!” With each word, Adora shrinks lower and lower. What was she thinking? How could she do this to Lonnie? She fucked up. Lonnie has been worried because she does care. Lonnie does love- “I couldn’t even call your friends because that would be fucking embarrassing, so I’ve just been sitting here freaking out!”

Adora processes her words and can’t help but laugh at them as she starts to stand up straight again. She didn’t care. She didn’t _love_ Adora. All she cared about was how Adora made her look. 

“What’s so funny?” Lonnie steps closer with her arms crossed and tapping her foot. Adora knows this is how she gets when she is really mad, and normally it would scare her but then she thinks back to Catra. She thinks about what Catra said and what Adora figured out on her own. Adora takes a deep breath before stepping forward. Lonnie’s demeanor drops a little, obviously shocked at Adora fighting back in even the slightest way. 

“You. You’re funny. It’s funny that you say you’re worried when that’s all I have been for _seven months_ !” Adora yells the last two words, she can feel her face getting redder from her anger finally coming out. Lonnie’s arms drop and she starts stepping back every time Adora steps forward. “You’re unable to contact your girlfriend all day, yet you were more worried about how it would look to _my_ friends that you didn’t know where I was instead of worrying about what was happening to me. All this time I thought you actually cared about me but that was just what I told myself because I was too afraid to see what was right in front of me. You controlled me for months, keeping me from my friends, keeping me from doing what I want, keeping me from being _me_.” 

“I was helping you!” Lonnie’s tough demeanor is back but it’s not as strong as before. “Everything I did was to help you become your best self!” 

Adora laughs again, it’s deep and it’s dark, she doesn’t recognize it. Neither does Lonnie as her demeanor falters again and she’s now pressed up against the wall. Adora keeps a distance from her, not wanting to be so close to touch her but close enough to tell Lonnie to not even think about moving. For so long she longed for her touch, she _wanted_ Lonnie to touch her, but she never got it. Not unless Lonnie wanted to, and if Adora said she wasn’t in the mood, Lonnie got mad at her. From then on, Adora had to touch whenever Lonnie wanted it, and Adora got nothing. 

“Everything you did was to make me how you wanted me to be! So I could make you look good to your friends! So I could make you feel better about yourself because you had a _perfect girlfriend_. You never cared about me, you cared about your image and how I bettered it for you-” Adora is cut off by Lonnie slapping her across the face. Adora blinks registering what just happened and then the pain starts to set in. It stings and tears start in her eyes but she keeps them back. She turns back to Lonnie to see her expression now completely cold-hearted and unremorseful. Adora spins on her heels and stomps towards the front door, her hand on the handle ready to leave-

“You leave now and we’re over. Forever,” Lonnie says her voice full of anger but Adora can still hear the desperation behind it. She doesn’t want her pet to leave, but that’s exactly what she’s going to do. 

“Good, because that’s what I _want_.” Adora opens the door and slams it behind her. Her fists are clenched at her sides as her shoulders rise and fall rapidly, matching her breathing. 

She finally spoke her mind, she finally stood up for herself. She did it. She stood up to Lonnie, she _left_ Lonnie! She left Lonnie. 

Adora starts freaking out now realizing that she has nowhere to go, all of her things are inside and she can’t go back now. For a moment Adora thinks she should go back. That she should go back inside and apologize. Beg for Lonnie to take her back. But that thought dies when she runs her hands down her face and winces at the pain coming from her cheek. 

She’s not going back, she can’t. But what is she supposed to do now? Where is she supposed to go?

Her first is Catra, she needs to text her and let her know what happened. Let her know that she got out. She pulls out her phone and starts typing but she’s shaking so much she can barely type out a word. She tries to stop her hands from shaking but nothing works. She manages to hit the call button and put the phone to her ear. After one ring it’s answered. 

“Look up, dummy,” Catra says before Adora even opens her mouth. 

“What?” Adora asks but does what she’s told. Her eyes land on Catra’s car in the same place it was when she got out of it. Adora almost drops her phone due to the fact that her hand has now gone limp. Catra smiles at her while taking her phone from her ear and hanging up. 

Adora practically sprints to the car and opens the door but doesn’t get in. She doesn’t look straight at Catra trying to keep the mark that she can feel growing on the right side of her face from her eyesight. “What are you doing here? Why didn’t you leave?” Adora asks, her breathing now steady from Catra’s presence but still coming out hard. 

“I wanted to know you were okay. I couldn’t go home without making sure.” Adora feels the warmth take over her body and it finally clicks for her what it is. Catra makes Adora feel _safe_. She almost bursts out crying at the realization and turns to look into her mismatched eyes. Catra gives her a soft smile which soon turns into a thin line when her eyes move down to her cheek. She goes to unbuckle her seatbelt but Adora quickly gets in and puts her hands over Catra’s. “Let me go, Adora.” 

“What are you going to do if I do?” Catra fights against Adora’s hands but she isn’t as strong so she barely budges. 

“Just let me go. She deserves it.” Catra fights again but it’s futile. Adora adjusts herself in the seat to now be fully in the car and moves her hands to grab Catra’s wrists and brings them up to her chest. Catra stops fighting and looks Adora in the eyes again. They then move back to Adora’s cheek and she can see tears start in Catra’s eyes. Her arms go limp in Adora’s hold so she loosens her grip and slides her hands to cup over Catra’s. 

“Please don’t. She may deserve it, but I don’t want you to do that,” Adora says. A tear falls down Catra’s face, and Adora doesn’t hesitate to move one of her hands to wipe it away with her thumb. She holds onto Catra’s shoulder and pulls her closer to rest their foreheads together. “Can we please just get out here and never come back?” 

“Don’t need to ask me twice,” Catra says in the cocky way Adora has now realized she talks in to cover what she’s really feeling. That was easy to figure out when she did it after freaking out about hitting the baseball. It still makes Adora smile as she moves away from Catra and lets go of her hands. Catra turns to the steering and Adora looks outside the passenger window back at what she thought was home for so long. 

The front door is open and Lonnie is standing in it looking shocked, furious, and maybe even a little scared? Adora doesn’t do anything, she doesn’t react, she just stares at her now ex-girlfriend as Catra drives away and she is no longer in view. Adora takes a deep breath and feels a huge weight lifted off her shoulders that she didn’t realize was there. She watches the building pass by until she starts to recognize a few, and then realizes where Catra is taking her. 

Catra pulls into the driveway of her and Scorpia’s house and immediately gets out of the car after turning it off and walking around it to open the door for Adora. 

She gets out of the car and follows the brunette inside. Catra hasn’t said a word since they left Lonnies and Adora isn’t exactly sure what she is feeling right now or why she brought Adora to her home so late at night. She opens the door and waits for Adora to come in before closing it. There is rustling coming from the living room and soon Scorpia is in the foyer with them, beaming as usual. 

“Wildcat! How was your-” Scorpia’s face falls when her eyes land on Adora’s cheek and she looks back at the shorter woman. “Catra?” 

“I’ll explain later but Adora is going to be staying with us for a while. We’ll be right back.” Before Adora can process or protest to what Catra just said she is already being pulled up the stairs. She feels somewhat disappointed when Catra stops them in front of a door that isn’t leading into her bedroom. Instead, she opens the door across the hall from her room and leads Adora inside. It’s almost identical to Catra’s except the walls are a light gray and there are a few framed pieces of art - which Adora can already tell aren’t Catra’s from the style - on the walls. It also doesn’t have the arched window like in Catra’s. Instead, it has two double-hung windows framing the king-sized bed. 

“Catra-” 

“Wait here, I’ll be right back,” Catra says while moving her to the edge of the bed and Adora sits down. Catra squeezes her hand before letting go and leaving the room, closing the door behind her. 

Adora feels cold without Catra, but it’s not like the cold she felt when she was with Lonnie. That was bone-chilling, this is just a cold that makes Adora shudder. She looks around the room and then remembers she has nothing. All of her things are at her house-Lonnie’s house. 

_Lonnie_. 

Adora closes her eyes and moves her hand to her cheek. She hisses at the pain it brings but keeps it there and remembers the look on Lonnie’s face after she did it. She was hoping that Lonnie would apologize, or at least seem like she felt bad, but she didn’t. She didn’t care, and she never did. 

Tears start to form in Adora’s eyes and she can’t fight them. So much has happened in such little time and it’s all too much. She’s glad she stood up to Lonnie, but she was running on adrenaline before, and now all of that’s gone. Adora is just left with herself as she cries about how sad her life is. 

Since she could remember she did whatever Ms. Weaver said, and what anyone else wanted her to do. Bow and Glimmer tried to give her more freedom but she was so used to doing what others wanted she never took it. Then when she met Lonnie she fell right back into old habits and it felt normal. God, how did she not see it before? How could she have lived her entire life letting people treat her like this and never notice it? 

Adora slides off the bed and onto the ground curling her legs into her chest and sobbing into her knees. If she weren’t so upset she would laugh at how this is what she looks like when she’d silently cry in the bathroom when she’d upset Lonnie. She stays like that while she cries, and thinks about how pathetic she is for needing someone else to show her what’s been happening. How she wasn’t able to see it for herself. 

She doesn’t stop crying when she hears the door open and close. She doesn’t stop when she feels an arm drape across her shoulders. She doesn’t stop when another wraps around her legs and holds her tight. It actually makes her cry harder. She hates crying in front of people and has never been comforted before, at least not before Catra. It’s weird, but it’s nice. It’s safe. 

Catra starts rocking her back and forth as Adora cries harder into her knees. They stay like that for who knows how long until Adora finally stops. Adora tries to take a deep breath through her nose but can’t, so she stands and looks around the room for tissues. She can’t find any and looks down at Catra who is staring at her worried. “Tissues?” Adora asks, and Catra relaxes a little while she goes into the bathroom connected to the bedroom and comes back out with a box. Catra opens it on the way over to her and pulls one out for her. Adora blows her nose a few times until there’s nothing left and then sits back on the edge of the bed. “Thank you.” 

Catra sits down next to her and rubs Adora’s back. “I’m sorry,” Adora says and Catra stops moving her hand. “I’m sorry for bringing you into this, even though I didn’t mean to, I swear. I’m sorry for crying in front of you so many times. I’m sorry for being a burden-” 

“Stop it.” Catra’s voice is strong and pained. Adora turns to look at her to see her mouth in a thin line but her eyes have so much care Adora almost starts crying all over again. “You are not a burden, and stop apologizing. If I didn’t want to help you with this I wouldn’t have asked to hang out or spent the entire day with you, now would I?” 

Adora doesn’t say anything, she knows if she were to try right now she would start sobbing again. Instead, she just stares into Catra’s mismatched eyes. The eyes that have been looking at her all day, the eyes that crinkle whenever she laughs, the eyes that widened when she was excited about hitting the ball. The eyes that make Adora feel like nothing else matters in the world except the two of them. 

Adora doesn’t realize how long she has been staring without saying anything and feels herself blush. She can’t tell if it’s from embarrassment or something else… 

She’s calmed down enough to finally respond, “I guess you wouldn’t have.” Catra starts rubbing her back again and Adora takes a long deep shaky breath. She doesn’t think she is going to cry again - at least not right now - but she’s definitely not-

“Are you okay?” Catra asks her voice now calm and caring. 

“No, but I’m better than I was before...Thanks to you.” Catra’s hand stutters a little bit with her motions but doesn’t stop. Adora takes another deep breath feeling a lot calmer but still not okay. “I’ll look for somewhere else to stay tomorrow, and I need to get my stuff-” 

“Scorpia is getting your stuff right now, and you don’t need to look anywhere. You can stay here as long as you need.” Adora wants to cry again but it feels like she is physically out of tears so instead she lets out a shuddering breath. 

“Scorpia didn’t have to do that. I could have done it tomorrow.” Catra moves from Adora’s back to grab her hand and Adora grips onto it tight while looking back up at Catra. 

“It’s fine. When I told her Lonnie’s the one who…” Catra’s eyes dart towards Adora’s cheek. She does a quick nod telling Catra she understands and doesn’t need to say it, “...she instantly got up and said she’s going to get your stuff. Trust me, when Scorpia puts her mind to something there’s no stopping her. I also don’t want you going back there anytime soon.” 

Adora smiled when Catra mentioned nothing can stop Scorpia but it quickly faded when she said the last part. Catra seems to notice the change and it looks like she is panicking for a second before an amused grin grows on her face. 

“Also have you _seen_ her? If I were to get in her way she would squash me like a bug. Not that she would actually hurt me, let alone a bug for that matter.” Adora laughs, like really laughs. Scorpia is already three times her size, and Adora is twice the size of Catra, but she’s probably the sweetest person she’s ever met. “One time there was a spider in the house, I went to stomp on it and she slid across the floor to grab my foot to stop me.” 

Adora is crying again but it’s from laughing. She leans back while holding a hand over her mouth to try and stifle her obnoxious laugh. It helps her hear Catra’s soft squeaky laugh that makes her stare at the brunette’s mouth. For some reason, she can’t take her eyes away. 

“She meant what she said by the way,” Catra says taking Adora out of her weird trance and looking back up at her eyes. Adora processes what she said and furrows her eyebrows while trying to figure out what Catra is referencing. “The hugs. You can ask her anytime for one, and she will gladly give you one, so don’t be afraid to ask.” 

“Oh, okay. Thank you.” 

“You keep saying that.” A smirk grows on Catra’s face that makes Adora roll her eyes in response. 

“Because I mean it.” Adora grabs both of Catra’s hands and holds them tight while looking into her blue and gold eyes. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me today. I couldn’t have stood up to Lonnie if you didn’t help me today. I probably would have stayed in that relationship for months maybe years before I noticed or someone else did. I was so stupid to not see it before-” 

“Hey, no. Don’t you dare say that,” Catra says while moving one of her hands from Adora’s to cup her cheek. Adora sighs as she nuzzles into the touch, she would be embarrassed if Catra wasn’t smiling at her so softly. “She manipulated you and made you think you had to be a certain way, but you don’t. You only have to be who you want to be. If she doesn’t like who you are then she’s a dumbass.” 

“ _I_ don’t even know who I am,” Adora says without thinking. She didn’t even really register what she said until after it came out of her mouth. Catra opens her mouth for a second and then closes it. Adora swears she sees her blushing for a second but when she clears her throat it goes away. 

“That’s okay. You can figure that out, and I’ll be here to help you…” Catra is definitely blushing now. She removes her hand from Adora’s face as she looks at her lap for a second before looking back up to make eye contact again. “If you want me to.” 

“Of course I do! I meant what I said Catra. I want you in my life, I want to be your friend.” Catra takes a shaky breath and Adora grabs her hands again. “I’m always gonna be your friend.” 

For the first time today, Catra hugs Adora first. Adora is taken aback by it for a moment but quickly wraps her arms around Catra and holds her tight. She is shaking a little so Adora runs her hand up and down her back until she stops. She is expecting Catra to pull away but she stays like that for a while. Adora enjoys the hold for as long as it lasts, which was only a few more seconds until Catra loosens her grip and pulls away. 

She wasn’t meeting Adora’s eyes now, which she understands. Catra said she likes her personal space and Adora bets Catra has never hugged Scorpia voluntarily before. Adora squeezes her shoulders gently and Catra takes a deep breath before standing, still facing Adora but her eyes looking at the ground. 

“I’ll let you get your rest. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask,” Catra says her voice quiet and soft. Adora wants to grab her and bring her back into the hug and just hold her for the rest of the night. It feels so nice to hold her and she wants to keep that feeling forever but she knows Catra wouldn’t like that. 

“Okay,” Adora says quietly. Catra quickly glances at Adora, their eyes meeting for a second before Catra turns around and slowly walks out the door, leaving Adora alone in the empty room. She feels out of place without any of her stuff, like she shouldn’t be here, but Catra said she doesn’t mind, Catra _wants_ her here. She still doesn’t quite believe it, but Catra seemed so serious when she said it was fine. 

Adora lays back on the bed and closes her eyes. She may think she doesn’t deserve to be here, but it already feels more like home than when she was at Lonnie’s. She hopes Catra is telling the truth, that she isn’t being a burden. 

Adora thinks back to the day and how Catra smiled and laughed with her. A feeling grew in Adora’s chest, it wasn’t the safe feeling - well partly - it was something else. Something she’s never felt before but it felt good. It grew the more she thought about their day together, especially when she focused more on her memories of specifically Catra. 

This amazing piece of art is made by [Tara](https://twitter.com/TaraTeacher3) an amazing person and artist! If you don't already you _definitely_ should follow them to see more of their amazing art!! Thank you again for making this Tara it really is a dream come true <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was...difficult to write. 
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed it and please let me know what you think is going to happen with Adora now staying at Catra's...that is if she actually stays
> 
> Let me know if there are any major mistakes!
> 
> Find me here:  
> Twitter @supersimptrio  
> Reddit u/momoajojo  
> Tumblr @momoajojo

**Author's Note:**

> Uh, so if you couldn't tell Adora is touched starved...I've never written about stuff like this so you probably know more than me and if I depict something wrong, please let me know, the last thing I want to do is offend someone, or get it wrong. 
> 
> Again, I don't know when I'll post or even write the next chapter for this. But please let me know if you like it, and if there are any major mistakes in the comments!
> 
> As always I'll post updates on Reddit, and I even got Twitter and a Tumblr now!  
> Twitter @supersimptrio  
> Reddit u/momoajojo  
> Tumblr @momoajojo


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